Darkness of Illusion
by Dragonexx
Summary: A cross with Planescape. The arrival of strange beings brings a threat to Gensokyo far greater than anything it's faced before. Disaster strikes everywhere, but to what end? Part of the Illusionverse.
1. Arrival

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 1

Arrival

* * *

><p>There were three of them. They passed through the barrier, able to avoid the notice of those who watched over it. They landed in front of what appeared to be a shrine. It was old, but appeared as if someone was making an effort (little as it was) to keep it livable.<p>

"Should we bother with the one here?" Asked the first figure. She looked like a girl in her late twenties or early thirties albeit with noticeable differences. Her hair was waist length and silvery with streaks of purple. She wore a simple ankle length black robe. Holes were cut in the back to allow for two purple bat wings and a long tail ending in a triangle point. Her eyes seemed to change color, as if they couldn't make up their mind on an appearance. "I can sense her power, it's mostly untapped, but if she were to…"

"No, dear." The second figure was male. He looked even less human, his skin was a strange gray color and his eyes were yellow. His hair was black and kept short. His ears were noticeably pointed and he had black feathered wings and wore a sword at his hip. "If the information we received is correct then we have not any need to bother her at the moment. Her part will come later."

"Well then why did I bother coming with you two?" The third complained. She had black hair, done in two pigtails. Her clothing was what one might typically associate with a girl from the so called "outside world," a lose tank top and skirt. There were holes cut in the garment like the first girl, allowing for a tail and bat wings. Different features from the first were two horns that came from the top of her head and the fact that her hands were pitch black and ended in razor sharp claws.

"Whatever do you mean, child?" The gray man asked.

"I only followed you two because I thought I might see some action for the first time in a long while. And now you're telling me I can't even fight anyone? And don't call me child! I'm almost strong enough to be your equal."

"Ah yes, but strength has nothing to do with it, dear Kyreth, we are far older beings than yourself."

"You didn't answer my first question! Was coming to this so called Gensoro or whatever the hell it's called a waste of time?"

The man looked up at the sky. It was night, with a half moon. The stars shone brightly, and far more were visible in this natural land then in the artificial world of outside. "I never said anything about there being nothing for you to do. I personally requested your presence, did I not? And please keep your voice down. It is night, may I remind you.

"Very well then," Kyreth replied. "What is it you would have me do?"

The man made a gesture with his hand and a scroll appeared in mid-air before slowly falling into his outstretched hand. "Your task will take you to this land's underground. It would be far too tedious and time consuming for me to explain this in full. You will find detailed instructions on your mission in reading this scroll. It should have enough 'action' for you to have your fill. You are free to use any methods to complete said mission, provided they do not cause too much of a disturbance. Can't have the natives here discovering our plans before they've come to fruition, now can we?" He smiled cheerfully. "I trust this is to your liking. Do we have a deal?"

Kyreth skimmed over the scroll. Her yellow eyes changed color to violet and she smiled a wicked smile. "It appears I was wrong. I'm going to enjoy this. You have yourself a deal."

She turned around, her wings growing larger. She took off from the shrine grounds and flew out over Gensokyo.

The man started walking up to the shrine, his attention directed to a box near the entrance. He made a gesture and something appeared in the palm of his hand.

"What are you doing?" The woman asked, perplexed.

"It's a shrine." He said with a smile. "It'd be rather rude to leave without at least giving a donation."

* * *

><p><em>Later… <em>

"Milady, your tea."

Two figures were on a balcony overlooking a lake. One was silver haired and wore a maid uniform. She placed a cup of tea on a small table, where sat a girl with the appearance of a child. She had blue hair, red eyes and bat wings. She wore a pink dress and hat.

"Thank you, Sakuya."

Remilia Scarlet sipped her tea as she looked out over the peaceful night. The half-moon and stars above were perfectly reflected in the still waters of the lake. Fairies flew about the lake, glowing in various colors, like stars of their own. Some hovered in place, viewing the scenery, while others playfully chased each other about. Remilia loved quiet nights like this, able to sit back and relax.

Back in the mansion, the fairy staff could be heard working, mostly, other times it sounded like the breaking of glass or something being knocked over. A sound at which Sakuya winced, knowing she was most likely going to have to clean that up. Remilia found herself trying not to laugh as her maid tried to keep the annoyance off her face.

By chance, Remilia looked down at the front gate, where the gate guard Hong Meiling, (called China by everyone, much to her annoyance) should have been standing guard. Usually she was on duty (albeit asleep) but this night, she wasn't at the gate at all.

"Sakuya, where's China?"

Sakuya reached for the knives she kept in a sheath under her skirt as she headed to the railing. "If she's slacking off I'll-" She stopped mid-sentence.

"What is it?" Remilia asked.

"She's hurt…"

Remilia rushed over to the railing to see China lying beneath a tree, clearly wounded. Her clothes were torn, revealing far too much of her shapely figure. Remilia was about to fly down towards her when she heard a commotion from inside. She turned to see an out of breath Patchouli Knowledge. She was leaning over trying to catch her breath.

"Patchy? What are you doing up at this hour? What's wrong?"

Once she was able to speak, again she delivered even worse news. "Remi! Flandre and Koakuma are both missing! I can't find them anywhere!"

"What? When did this happen?"

"I heard a crashing sound coming from Flandre's room. When I arrived, I found the door torn completely off its hinges and the inside demolished. I-" She stopped to engage in a fit of coughing.

"Please have a seat." Sakuya said. She poured Patchy a cup of tea. "This should help."

Patchy quickly drained the cup. "Thanks." She said. "I couldn't find Flandre anywhere so I tried to contact Koa. But I can't sense my familiar at all."

"So Flandre's escaped?" Remilia sighed. Ever since the Scarlet Mist Incident, when that shrine maiden Reimu and her friend Marisa had entered the manor to stop it, Flandre had seemingly become obsessed with going outside, culminating in her sneaking out of her room while Remilia was away. Fortunately, the two humans had been there to prevent her from causing any real trouble. Flandre had been mostly quiet after that, and Remilia thought she had lost interest in leaving, but apparently she had been wrong.

"Not just that. The door to her room was broken from the _outside."_

"What? What do you mean?" Remilia asked, perplexed.

"It appears as if Flandre didn't force her way out. Someone _forced their way in._"

"We let the entirety of Gensokyo know how dangerous the young mistress is at the last council. Who would be stupid enough to do that?" Sakuya asked.

"I don't know. And it doesn't matter." Remilia said, she stood up and headed back over to the balcony. "I'm going out to look for her. Sakuya, you come with me."

"Yes, milady."

Patchouli also prepared to take off, but was again overcome with a fit of coughing.

"Patchy, you're not in any shape to be traveling tonight. Stay here and take care of China."

"I'm certain the fairies could…"Patchouli stopped mid-sentence. "I'll tend to her wounds."

With a flap of her wings, Remilia took off into the air. Sakuya followed her.

"Forgive me for asking, milady…" Sakuya started.

"Out with it." Remilia sighed.

"Do we even have a clue where to look?"

"Well-"

Remilia's answer was cut short by a sudden bright light. They looked at the Forest of Magic just in time to see it engulfed in a massive explosion.

* * *

><p><em>And there's the beginning of our story. While it's not apparent right now, this story will be something of a cross between Touhou and the D&amp;D setting of Planescape, two things I really love. <em>

_The early chapters are for me the most difficult to get started on. However, rest assured I promise the second chapter soon!_

_Please leave a review and tell me what you think so far!_

_~Dragonexx_

_P.S. Spell check recognizes Patchouli as a word, awesome!_


	2. Encounter

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 2

Encounter

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><p>Reimu Hakurei was jolted awake by the near deafening noise. She looked around in a panic before she realized it was from outside. She rushed over to the nearest window of the shrine to see the Forest of Magic engulfed in flames.<p>

"Marisa!" she cried out.

Reimu quickly got dressed. A shirt with detached sleeves and a red skirt. She reached for a staff with paper streamers coming from it, a shrine maiden's _gohei._

She rushed outside. She made a gesture and a perfect sphere of white and black appeared before her. It split into two smaller spheres, those two split into even smaller orbs, and they each floated around her. Her Yin-Yang Orbs.

Reimu rushed past the gate of the shrine and took off, flying much faster than usual. She soon reached her destination to see that the place was in the middle of a full-blown forest fire.

She flew over the forest, swerving once to avoid a swarm of panicked fairies, fleeing the flames. She saw the mages of the forest casting water spells to douse the flames, but they were not having much success.

She soon came to Marissa's house. The small home was engulfed in flames. Looking in the broken windows, Reimu could see the flames taking on unnatural colors as the fire touched her magical items.

She couldn't get any closer to the building. "Marisa!"

Reimu heard somebody land behind her. "Marisa? Are you… oh it's just you."

A girl in a pink dress with small bat like wings was standing in the clearing.

"Remilia Scarlet?" Reimu asked. "What the hell are you doing here?" _And where there's one…_

"Milady!" Reimu looked up without surprise to see the vampire's maid Sakuya landing."

"Ah, sorry for flying so fast."

"It is no matter milady." Sakuya assured. "Have you seen her?"

"No, I'm afraid. And I was certain she would be here." Remilia answered.

"You still haven't answered my question. What the hell are you doing here?" Reimu repeated.

Remilia turned back to Reimu and said quite calmly. "Looking for my sister."

Reimu visible paled. "What? W-w-what did you say?" she stuttered, shocked.

Remilia was clearly enjoying the shrine maiden's panic. "You heard me. Looking for my sister."

Reimu didn't know what to say. _If that insane, overpowered girl is on the loose…_

There was a sudden burst of wind and the sound of massive wings. Reimu looked up to see two large reptilian creatures, something like flying lizards. In an instant, they transformed into two humanoid figures. One male one female.

The two of the landed next to the rest of the group. They both had blonde hair and blue eyes. The man had no hat. The woman wore a round hat over her head and a pair of earrings shaped like fangs. She carried a staff in her hands.

They were siblings. Vincent and Hotaru, they had caused an Incident last winter, raising the heat to the same as the hottest days of summer claiming to have wanted to create a desert. Not to mention a few other minor problems and annoyances. They were Gold dragons, or so they said, and hated the cold. They lived rather far away from the shrine in a mountain range near the other side of Gensokyo, a volcanic region primarily inhabited by wild and feral youkai.

Reimu instantly stomped over to him. "Vincent! Did you cause this fire?" She said angrily.

Vincent smiled, yet shook his head. "No. But I wish I had. Look how big it is! This is awesome!"

His sister stomped on his foot and then stepped forwards. "What my brother means to say is we're just as mystified as you are." Hotaru said calmly, while Vincent hopped around clutching his foot. "What did cause this forest fire? Do you have any clues?"

"Some sort of explosion." Remilia said.

Vincent ceased his hopping around and turned to her direction. "Vampire? And maid? You're here too?" He smiled a greeting. "How are things going?" He asked.

"Fine actually, we've managed to clean up from the last time you set fire to my manor." Remilia hissed.

"It was a big house, dragons hoard treasure and to my knowledge, the best treasures are found in the biggest houses. What's the big deal?" Vincent asked.

"You smashed an entire wing of my home! You're lucky it didn't draw Flandre's attention!" Remilia shouted, angrily moving towards him.

Vincent however appeared not to notice, still on another train of thought. "At least the vampires place was worth the trip. That place in the bamboo forest… that doctor can do some crazy stuff with needles...

"Pay attention to me!" Remilia demanded, the effect somewhat ruined by her being about half Vincent's height.

Hotaru sighed and walked over to Sakuya. "Please tell your mistress that we are sorry for any sort of problems. Despite my older brother's boasts, we have no intention of causing any more trouble in Gensokyo."

Sakuya simply nodded.

Vincent finally noticed (or decided to pay attention) to the angry Vampire. He looked down at her and picked her up by the back of her dress. She flailed her legs and arms wildly, but was unable to escape a dragon's strength.

"Hmm? Were you saying something?" He asked curiously.

"Do you have any clue as to what caused the explosion?" Reimu asked, doing her best to tune out the argument nearby.

"I didn't hear the explosion." Hotaru replied. "We came here because I detected a strange magical energy. I have at least determined that the type of magic isn't native to Gensokyo."

"So you saying whatever or whoever caused this, is from the outside world? I thought the magic in the outside world was very weak."

"It is. The energy felt like that of Gehenna or the Nine... " Hotaru paused and then turned to face the opposite direction.

"What is it?" Sakuya asked.

Remilia and Vincent had stopped as well and were looking in that direction as well. "I hear something…"

Reimu couldn't hear anything over the sound of the fires, she was about to voice this when she realized that the others had far greater hearing than she did.

"Someone's talking over there."

She quickly dashed off into the trees, considerately making a few gestures and causing water to douse the fires in their path.

The others followed, and stopped next to Hotaru who was looking at two figures from behind a group of trees and stones. Reimu moved closer and got a better look at them.

One was a man with black feathered wings. Reimu had first thought him a tengu, but no tengu she had ever seen had gray skin. He wore elegant black clothing that gave him the appearance of a nobleman and he carried a sword at his hip. The other figure had waist length silver hair, with streaks of purple, along with purple bat wings and a long thin tail ending in a triangle point. She was idly tossing something from hand to hand. Upon closer look Reimu's heart sank. She was holding Marisa's hakkero!

The man seemed to be upset, while the woman looked annoyed at the man being upset. "Do you recall what I had said about not causing too much of a disturbance? We are not looking to draw attention to ourselves at the moment!" The man said, with the slightest hint of annoyance.

"Well that human totally had it coming!" The woman argued. "Attacking me out of the blue, I say I was justified in my actions."

"Defending yourself was justified, dear. But unleashing that much energy, setting an entire forest ablaze just to defeat one human, that's just going overboard!" The man said.

"I suppose you do have a point. It's not my fault the Prime is so fragile though." She replied. "Anyways, what do you think this thing is?" She tossed the hakkero back and forth from hand to hand. "It appears to be magical, and it's obviously used for combat. But it uses a strange type of magic..." She examined the octagonal magical device, turning it over in her hands.

"Well we could have asked her, had you not reacted with such explosive force. She's probably just a burnt corpse, if there's even that much left of her." The man sighed.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, honey. I felt a magical shield being raised in the instant before I attacked. Doubt it was strong enough to protect her completely but…"

Reimu had heard enough. Ofuda appeared in her hands and she leaped from her hiding spot before any of her allies could react. _"What have you done with Marisa?" _She demanded.

The silver haired woman turned towards her. "What the hell is a Marisa?"

"I think it's the human's name, love." The man sighed. "Well, so much for avoiding drawing attention to ourselves. I can only hope Kyreth is having better luck…"

"And you say I'm overreacting. The answer is simple. The dead tell no tales… usually… so all we have to do is kill the witnesses." The woman smiled. "_All _of them."

She pointed at the spot where there others were hiding, and several green rays fired out, disintegrating boulders.

"Has anyone ever taught you that it's rude to eavesdrop?" the woman asked.

Reimu did not answer; instead, she tossed the talismans towards the woman. Her enemy easily dodged them. The talismans stuck to a tree behind her and exploded. The woman lifted her hand and red bolts of energy fired from the palm of her hand. Reimu easily dodged the bolts, getting in close before throwing more ofuda at her. The woman disappeared, reappearing behind Reimu. A leg sweep sent the shrine maiden to the ground. She looked up to see more red bolts forming when suddenly there was a distortion in the air. Sakuya appeared behind the stranger, a knife in one hand and her signature pocket watch in the other. Sakuya immediately pressed her knife against the enemy's throat.

"A clever trick." The woman said. "Now this place seems even more interesting. I would love to learn how you did that, but I am rather preoccupied at the moment. Wait your turn."

Her body crackled with electricity, leaping to the metal blade of the knife and straight into Sakuya's body. She cried out and collapsed to the ground, her body shaking. The others joined into the fight. Remilia was suddenly holding a red spear in her hand. She flew towards the strange woman, but again, the woman disappeared, before reappearing right above Remilia. A kick sent the vampire crashing into the ground.

Vincent charged at the woman, letting lose a blast of flame from his mouth. The woman gestured with her hands and the fire passed harmlessly to either side. When her view cleared, Hotaru had taken the opportunity to get in close and strike with the staff. The woman's reflexes were top notch though. She caught the staff in one hand and placed another hand on Hotaru's stomach. She was blasted back into a tree. Vincent removed his gloves, revealing hands with golden-scaled claws. He slashed his claws at the woman, but she dodged away from the slashes and then fired a red bolt of energy. Vincent was hit and sent flying backwards.

Meanwhile, Remilia had already stood up. "Where is Flandre?" she demanded.

"The hell is a Flandre?" The woman asked.

"I think it's a type of gelatinous dessert." Said the man.

"Why is she asking for sweets?"

"Flandre is my sister! Where is she? What have you done with her?"

"Gah… mortal names are so odd… and I haven't seen anything called a 'Flandre'"

Remilia cried out in rage. She lifted the spear, which glowed with a red light and shouted. "Divine Spear, '_Spear the Gungnir'!"_

She hurled the spear, blazing with red energy, straight at the stranger. It was a direct hit and blasted the woman back, demolishing a line of trees along the way. Surprisingly the woman was still standing, despite the fact that part of her dress was torn, and she was bleeding from several open wounds on her body.

She stumbled back, with a slightly annoyed expression. At a gesture, the wounds in her body healed and her clothes repaired themselves. "I'm not going to lie. That actually hurt. But I guarantee this will hurt even worse!" She spread out her arms and a massive amount of black spheres appeared around her. The spheres transformed into the shape of arrows.

Sakuya managed to recover from the electrocution. The Gungnir would take time to reappear to Remilia; she needed to buy her mistress some time. She reached for her pocket watch and with the pushing of its switch, time froze.

When time resumed, the arrows went wild as the woman was forced to dive to avoid the knives that suddenly appeared around her.

_Now to finish the job. _Sakuya thought. She stopped time once again, and was about to reach for more knives when she felt something grab her hand. She turned to see the gray-skinned man. "I was wondering how you were doing that." He said.

Sakuya tried to break free of his grip, but it was like iron, surprising for someone who appeared to have little muscle. "You're stopping time, aren't you?" He said calmly. His smiled, not a sinister smile but a cheery one, as if they were having a peaceful conversation over tea. "Yet with such a great power, I'm wondering why you didn't simply attack her directly while she was unable to counter. I arrived at the conclusion that anything near you is unaffected, isn't it? It's how your thrown knives are able to have any momentum at all."

_He figured it out that quickly? _Sakuya thought. Time resumed as she attempted to break free of his grip. She managed to get a knife into her free hand and slashed his arm, drawing blood. She put some distance between the two of them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Reimu hurling more ofuda at the other opponent, while Vincent and Hotaru had recovered. Vincent was bombarding her with fire while Hotaru let lose barrages of danmaku.

Sakuya figured she could afford to focus on this foe. She reached for her pocket watch, only to find it missing! "Looking for this?" said the stranger. "Now you see it…" He was holding her watch in his hand, and then with a flourish of his hand and a sweep of his sleeve, the watch disappeared. "…Now you don't."

The stopwatch was what allowed her to stop time, but she wasn't powerless without it . With a thought, she slowed down time. She threw more knives at the stranger. He didn't bother moving but instead tilted his head slightly. There was a brief flash of light and the knives were deflected. His expression changed to one of boredom. He looked up at the sky, before turning to the woman.

"Kanna, dear. As fun as this is, we do have a job to do."

Kanna flicked her wrist, and her opponents were sent flying back. She sighed. "Fine,"

"Hey!" Reimu shouted. "You can't just leave!"

"Oh relax. I've got plenty of people for you to play with right here." Kanna snapped her fingers and several black circles appeared on the ground.

"Ta-ta now!" She said tauntingly. Both she and the strange man disappeared in a flash of light.

From each of the circles on the ground, some sort of creature arose. They were hideously deformed, so thin as to look nearly skeletal. Skin stretched tight over bones, showing the ribcage even more than the most starving person possibly could. They appeared to have no stomach, their abdomen contracted straight to their spine. Their limbs were just as thin, yet each hand and foot had razor sharp claws. Their skull like faces had a perpetual grin, made sinister with razor sharp teeth. The most noticeable factor of all however, was the large scorpion-like tail, likely containing some horrible poison.

"What the- what are these things?" Reimu asked.

One of the creatures spoke in a language Reimu had never heard, its voice raspy like sandpaper. It then leaped at her, swiping its claws.

Reimu rolled to the side, to avoid the attack and flicked her wrist. More ofuda appeared in her hand. She was about to throw them when the creature spun and struck Reimu in the side with a backhanded blow. It had amazing strength, despite appearing to have no muscle whatsoever. She was knocked back and rolled along the ground, dazed. Two more of the monsters advanced towards her, all the while speaking in that odd language. They raised their tails, preparing to impale her.

"Lightning Sign '_Wild Bolt!'"_

Reimu felt her hair stand up on end as bolts of electricity blasted the creatures back. They hit a nearby tree and lay still. Shortly after their bodies dispersed into a dark cloud that quickly faded away. Reimu looked up to see Hotaru holding her staff like a gun, the tip of it still crackling with electricity. She had used one of her spell cards.

The other creatures were undeterred by the loss of their comrades. The one that had struck Reimu leaped towards Hotaru, only for knives to embed themselves in its chest. The creature stumbled back and then collapsed, its body dispersed into darkness shortly afterwards. Reimu rolled to the side as another of the monsters jabbed it's stinger down at her. She quickly flipped back onto her feet and hurled ofuda at it. She leaped back as they exploded, taking the monster with them. She turned to see Remilia duck beneath the claws of another and strike upwards with her spear, eliminating the creature.

The remaining monster was attacking Vincent with its stinger. Vincent dodged the strike and caught the stinger in his hand and then lifted the enemy off the ground and hurled it into a tree with such force that it the tree was snapped in half and the monster faded away.

"What were those things? Some kind of youkai?" Reimu asked.

Vincent's expression was serious for once. "Again… why must it be so?"He said to himself before noticing Reimu. "If I'm right… then-" Before he could finish there was a flash of light in the distance, followed by an explosion.

"Another explosion? What's over there?" Hotaru asked. She looked at Reimu and was shocked to see that she had gone completely pale.

"The human village!"

* * *

><p><em>Wow, two chapters in a row ending in an explosion. I guarantee that the third will not do the same… probably…<em>

_Anyways, from this point on things will be getting a lot more serious, and more canon characters will appear. I finally added in some things from Planescape! Guess what their called!_

_Here's a basic description of some of the original characters I've introduced so far. The villains I'll introduce in-story._

**Vincent**

_He's an 800 (approximately) year old dragon of the western variety, and has no relation to the dragon god of Gensokyo. He along with his sister, brother, and servants moved to Gensokyo rather recently (sometime between Mountain of Faith and Subterranean Animism), with humans moving in on the mountains he called home in the outside world. Vincent is responsible for a recent Incident during the previous winter where he caused the temperatures to rise to like the hottest days of summer, before being beaten by Reimu, Marissa and Remilia. Personality wise, he tends to be light-hearted and often drifts into tangents of thought, seemingly ignorant of what's going on right in front of him. However should the situation call for it he can act seriously, sometimes surprising others. _

_Vincent has made his new home in a mountainous region near the far end of Gensokyo, and has somehow managed to gain the loyalty of various tribes of reptile youkai._

**Hotaru**

_Vincent's 600 (approx.) year old sister. She's a lot more level headed and displays far more common sense then her older brother, often reprimanding him for his chaotic behavior. She is a magician and her specialty is summoning though she is not limited to that style. Hotaru handles the magic needs for the family and she is the one who created the summer heat spell at Vincent's request.  
><em>

_Both of them have the ability to shapeshift. They nowadays spend most of their time in human form, far better to interact with the residents of Gensokyo._

_I realized that I could have explained all this in story, but the reason for me not doing so is that I'm lazy. Maybe once this story is finished, or at some point whenever, I'll make a side story about that incident._

_Thanks for reading! Please leave a review or a comment. Not only does it tell me what I could do better or change, but it also lets me know that people are actually interested in this.  
><em>

_~**Dragonexx**_


	3. The Burning City

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 3

The Burning City

* * *

><p>Reimu arrived to find the city was in chaos. Thankfully, the explosion hadn't been as large as the one in the forest, though a great number of buildings were on fire, and it was in danger of spreading to the rest of the village. The real threat came from the monsters rampaging through the streets. These were different in appearance to the ones she had fought back in the forest.<p>

These monsters had greenish scaly skin and all had a large scraggly beard. The majority of them carried spears, and Reimu felt a chill run through her when she saw that many of them had bloodstains.

Rage overtook her, and she flew straight for the nearest group of them. They were currently chasing down a family of peasants, apparently delighting in the slaughter. From the air, she hurled ofuda down upon the monsters, which stuck to them and exploded, annihilating them. Their remains dispersed into darkness. She continued onwards, moving to the next group of monsters. She encountered another group of the bearded monsters, and quickly eliminated them. She was about to move on again when she heard something behind her. She quickly turned and dodged the swing of a claw. However, she wasn't fast enough to avoid it completely and it cut into her shoulder.

The creature that attacked her was another of those skeletal monsters from before. They were flying this time. More of them moved towards Reimu. However, Reimu was a far superior flier. She acrobatically dodged swings from the monsters as they chased after her. She formed more ofuda in her hand and struck down two of the creatures before they could even react. The remaining one tried to strike with its stinger. Reimu dodged to the side and stuck a talisman to the creature, flying away as it exploded.

Despite her efforts, the monsters were everywhere. She heard screams from other places, screams that were often silenced soon after they arose.

She noticed a figure fighting the monsters on the ground to protect a group of humans. She had blonde hair, and wore a dress with a tiger theme. She held a spear in her hands with which she deflected the monsters own blows.

Shou Toramaru! She blocked one of the monsters swings with her own weapon, and then kicked the creature back, impaling it with her spear as it stumbled. Another tried to approach her from behind, but Shou spun, and kicked its feet out from under it. Shou struck downward with the point of her spear, piercing the monsters chest.

Two more attempted to approach her from either side. They thrust forwards with their weapons. Shou however flipped away and tripped an enemy with her spear. Before she could finish that one off another attempted to grab her with its clawed hands. Reimu hurled an ofuda at the enemy, eliminating it. Shou quickly finished off the one on the ground. Reimu landed next to Shou.

"Thanks for the help" The tiger youkai said. Once making sure the nearby humans were safe, the two of them took off to help the rest of the city.

"Do you have any idea what's going on here?" Shou asked.

Reimu quickly explained what little she knew and then asked where the rest of Myouren temple was.

"Byakuren, Ichirin, Unzan and Nazrin headed to the forest to help the humans and youkai there evacuate. Murasa and I were about to follow them when this explosion happened. All of a sudden, these black circles appeared and these… things attacked. As far as I can tell, these things are not youkai.

They came to the town's market street and froze. "Dear gods…" Shou swore.

Corpses of humans littered the area, blood flowing from gaping wounds. Reimu's eyes filled with tears. Sure, the humans of the village distrusted her due to the fact that she hung out with youkai often, and often Reimu professed not to care for them either, but the sight of so many innocents slaughtered without mercy was overwhelming. She suddenly felt dizzy and the world began to spin around her. Reimu collapsed to her knees, leaned over, and vomited. This was far worse than anything she had dealt with before, even during the Makai invasion, events like this hadn't even come close to happening.

"Are you okay?" Shou asked, though it looked as if she was a little queasy as well.

"I'm…" Reimu stopped short as she vomited again. She struggled to her feet, grateful when Shou helped her stand.

She was about to say something when she heard screams echoing from down the street. Her nausea forgotten, Reimu sped down the road, with Shou following. She turned a corner but was too late. She arrived just as one of the bearded monsters pulled its spear out of the body of a human child. There was a group of them and they were _laughing_.

Reimu cried out in rage. She flicked her wrist and another piece of paper appeared in her hands. However, this was not a simple ofuda. She held it into the air and it glowed brightly. She shouted. "Spirit Sign!"

She spread out her arms. Seven glowing spheres appeared, each a different color of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

She pointed at the monsters and shouted. "'_Fantasy Seal!'"_

The seven spheres fired towards the enemy, exploding on impact in fantastic bursts of light. The group of monsters was annihilated on the spot.

"Why is this happening?" Reimu asked to herself. She was cut short by the sound of a crash in a distance.

She steeled herself, and she took off along with Shou and flew to the source of the sound. As they flew, they noticed Vincent, Hotaru, Sakuya and Remilia fighting on other streets. They were holding their own and Reimu determined they did not need any assistance.

In the village square, a black haired girl with a white sailor suit was fighting a large amount of monsters. She held her ladle in her hand and swung it to release danmaku, which struck the creatures, destroying several. One of her opponents looked different from the rest. It stood next to the statue of the dragon god. It was noticeably taller than the others were and was insect-like in appearance with a blue body and green, compound eyes. It had a long tail and spikes, which started at its back and continued down to the tip of its tail. It held a spear in its clawed hands. The thing appeared to be their leader, as although Reimu could not understand what it was saying, it seemed to be giving orders.

As the monsters moved closer, she took to the air, shouting down at them. "Do you think you can beat me? Do you even know who the hell I am? I AM CAPTAIN MINAMITSU MOTHERFUCKING MURASA! And don't you forget it!"

She shouted. "Capsize, '_Sinking Anchor'_!"

A massive anchor appeared in the air and crashed down upon the lesser creatures, crushing them and releasing a large cloud of shadows, which dispersed soon after.

The leader avoided the attack and let lose a bluish wave of energy from its mouth. The wave struck Murasa and ice began to form upon her. She dropped to the ground to escape the cold. Reimu hurled ofuda at the creature, but it was fast. It swung its spear at the paper and cut it in half. Reimu was about to reach for more, deciding that it couldn't deflect multiple talismans when the creature pointed its spear at her.

Reimu looked up to see huge chunks of ice falling towards her. She was caught off guard and the ice struck her and sent her crashing to the ground. She struggled to pull herself out from under it. When she escaped, she looked up to see the insect monster about to plunge its spear at her. She rolled to the side and then prepared to strike with her gohei. However, the monster swung its massive tail, which hit Reimu square in the chest. The creature's body was freezing cold to the touch and Reimu almost went numb. She was knocked back into the wall of a building, hitting her head. A strange image of Cirno danced in front of her dazed eyes,

She looked up to see Shou rushing at the monster. It swung its spear, which Shou flipped over. While in mid air, she hit the creature in the head with a kick. It stumbled back, about to resume its attack when Murasa's anchor struck it in the side. It was knocked flying and crashed into the dirt a good twenty yards away. However, the monster wasn't down yet. Shou rushed forwards with her spear, and thrust it at the beast, only for it to catch the attack on its own spear. With a twist, it disarmed Shou and flung her back. She flipped and landed on her feet, only for the monster to cause another rain of massive shards of ice. Shou acrobatically dodged them while moving forwards and leaped up to hit the monster in the head again with a spinning kick. She landed and struck again with a punch to the chest. Murasa provided support by then firing a barrage of danmaku at the creature. They exploded in a fantastic light show but it was still standing. It let lose another freezing wave of blue energy.

Reimu leaped to her feet, she hurled several ofuda. Instead of striking the creature, they formed a shield protecting Shou and Murasa. Reimu then did a short dimensional leap in front of the barrier, and planted a great amount of ofuda on the monster. She leaped back as they exploded, throwing up a cloud of dust and smoke.

"Is it gone?" Murasa asked.

There was a sudden screeching sound and the insect monster charged out of the cloud straight towards the three combatants. Before any of them could react, it struck Shou in the side with its spear. Reimu attempted to throw more ofuda but was too slow. The creature rammed her head on, sending her flying harder than before. She landed on her arm and heard a snapping sound. Reimu tried to move the arm she had landed on and almost blacked out from the pain. Her arm was broken!

Through dazed eyes, she saw Murasa go flying. The creature was nearest to Reimu and it realized it. It moved over to her, raising its spear. Reimu looked around in a dazed panic and noticed Shou's spear near her. As the creature charged she grabbed the spear with her good arm, closed her eyes, and blindly thrust it forwards. She felt a jerk as something impacted against it. She felt something warm and wet on her hand and dripping down onto her body.

She opened her eyes to see the monster impaled on the end of the spear. Unlike the rest of the monsters, it was not fading away but instead bleeding. The blood was red like a human, which didn't make sense for an insect. She glanced behind the monster and saw Kanna sitting on the head of the statue, a wicked smile on her face. She let lose a laugh and then disappeared.

The creature fell forwards as Reimu lost her grip on the spear, and it landed on her. However, it felt lighter than it should have and it was no longer freezing cold to the touch. She watched as the monster began some sort of transformation, its body twisting and reshaping its self. When it finished, it had the appearance of a human girl. Reimu looked on in horror as she realized that lying on top of her was the body of Keine Kamishirasawa.

* * *

><p><em>Originally this and was going to be part of chapter two but it grew so long that I felt it was best to divide them. I would have gotten this up sooner, but I had computer problems over the weekend and once that was fixed there was that blackout…<em>

_Character death is a challenging thing to write convincingly. Spend too little detail on it and it can come off as uncaring. Other times going into too much detail makes you seem sadistic or cruel. It's hard to find the perfect balance between these things. Character death is especially hard in fan-fiction, where your opinions of a character might influence your writing. Focusing on killing all the characters you dislike tends to just turn it into a hate-fic (example: The Horrible Bloody Death of Kairi)._

_Also, when you are writing an original story, you are free to determine how important each character is. But in fan-fiction, the importance of characters is already determined by the original creator, thus killing a certain character already comes with certain repercussions (events that would follow afterwords, reactions from other characters, etc.), which if ignored can make it seem as if you just didn't care._

_As stated before, this story is a cross between Planescape and Touhou. This is intended to be something like a dark fic, but I don't want to go overboard and make it out and out depressing to read._

_Also, I don't know if this is supported in canon, but I assumed Shou was an expert martial artist._

_Secondly, I edited some things in previous chapters. Tell me what you think is different!_

_Thanks for reading! Please leave a review or at least a comment… Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sprinkles and-… Okay I'm not going there, but it would be nice if you left a review…_

_~Dragonexx_


	4. Monsters in the Dark

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 4

Monsters in the Dark

* * *

><p><em>The next day…<em>

Towering above most of Gensokyo was the great mountain. Near its base, the land was fertile and a farming community had formed. A little ways out from the farmland was a small shrine dedicated to the goddesses of harvest and autumn, and a festival was held, the night after the harvest. Unlike the main human village, the humans of this area were more accepting of youkai. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the majority of the youkai that inhabited this area were kappa and tengu, who were benevolent towards humans. The farming city, the tengu city and the kappa city had good trade relations.

At the very base of the mountain was a forest. Though the casual observer might deem it dangerous, due to the fact that the growth was so thick it blocked the sunlight, the forest was watched over by a goddess who gathered misfortune away from those who traveled through the forest. Travel through the forest lacked any danger (aside from the tricks of fairies, but that was a problem no matter where you were).

Beyond the forest, the river had carved a valley into the mountainside. Within this valley was the city of the Kappa. By far, it was the most technologically advanced part of Gensokyo (And the most diverse, with some things advanced far past the outside world with others still several decades behind. Computers were still a mystery to most of the Kappa). The buildings were a chaotic mixture of different building styles and era's depending on their residents interests. Kappa were on good relations with humans, and many humans could be seen in the marketplaces of the Kappa, and a few had even taken up residence there. There was a fair amount of humans who had once lived in the outside world, as many of the things avaliable there outside had been implemented in the kappa city.

The river led upwards to a towering waterfall. There were natural paths up the side of the mountain for travelers on foot to follow (though these were rarely used any more as the Kappa had somehow managed to install an elevator system leading to the top of the waterfall). The water flowed from a cave mouth.

The tengu city was built into a depression in the cliff. The tengu city built within the massive trees that grew higher in the mountains. Though the tengu were considered friends with humans, they were rarer to see in the city.

Above the tengu city was the Moriya shrine, built in honor of the goddess of the mountain. Unlike the shrine belonging to the Hakurei clan, the Moriya shrine was far better kept. If anything, this was only evidence that more people took an interest in the shrine. Though the shrine usually saw a steady stream of visitors, today it was empty. Perhaps it was a sign that even the people of Gensokyo were moving beyond faith in gods. Perhaps it was a sign that what troubles the mortal realm affects the divine as well. Perhaps it was a sign that was hanging from the front gate saying. _Sorry, the temple is closed until further notice._

At the moment, the keeper of the shrine, Sanae Kotiya, was flying down the mountain. She was wearing her normal shrine maiden outfit. A blue skirt, white vest and detached sleeves, and letting her green hair flow free. However in addition to these clothes, her right arm was bandaged, and there was a patch of gauze on her cheek. Her eyes were bloodshot as if she had not gotten much sleep.

She flew past the forest and the farming village, and out across the fields. She was lost in thought and nearly collided with someone else who was flying. They let out a shocked sort of screeching sound before shouting. "Hey watch where you're going!"

"Oh! I'm sorry." Sanae looked up to see that the other flyer was a man with messy blonde hair and blue eyes. "Vincent?" Sanae asked. "What are you doing here?" Sanae hadn't been involved in the Incident that Vincent had caused, although she had heard the news afterwards.

"I might ask you the same question, wind priestess." He said, "Especially since you look as if you should be resting in bed."

"Admittedly I would like to, but there are several major problems I have to deal with." Sanae answered.

"Problems? What sort of problems?" Vincent asked. Sanae noticed that he sounded rather worried now, which was completely out of the ordinary for the dragon, who was usually so laid back. Perhaps he could help her.

"Last night the tengu city was attacked."

"Attacked? Attacked by what?" Vincent asked, his alarm raising.

"I was in the city when there was this big explosion there, and these black circles appeared everywhere. These weird monsters appeared from them and started attacking the tengu. We managed to defeat all of them, but not before some of tengu were…" She broke off. When she spoke again, it was about a different issue.

"Also, Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako have been missing. I can't find them anywhere, and neither of them answer my prayers. I tried asking the other gods of the mountain on the way down, but I can't find any of them either…"

"Could it be…?" Vincent said silently to himself.

"What, do you have an idea as to what any of this means?"

"Perhaps… but there are still plenty of other possibilities to consider. I don't want to jump to conclusions so I'm going to look into this more before I make a call. You're probably headed in that direction anyways, but you should have some prior warning first. The tengu city was not the only place to fall under attack. The main human village was attacked as well."

"What?"

"My sister will have a better explanation of things, she's helping the village rebuild as we speak. Some nonsense about improving public relations. Like we need it..."

"Wait, then where are you headed?"

"Home," Vincent answered. "If things are as you say, then I worry for those who live in the Ash Mountains."

Vincent sped off, before Sanae could question further.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, five shadowy figures watched the conversation from the cover of nearby trees. Once Sanae flew off a grin appeared on the face of one of them as she turned to her companions.<p>

"Did you hear that? The Moriya shrine is empty!" She said. "This is our chance!"

"Our chance for what?" Said another. This one sounded skeptical.

"We can finally get into the shrine!"

"A-Are you sure that's a good idea?" Said another nervously.

"What are you afraid of?" Said the first. "You have the strongest on your side!" She flew out of the tree to address the rest of the group. She looked like a child, about around 9 years old. Wings that looked like shards of ice held her aloft. The fairy had short blue hair that was decorated with a green bow and she wore a blue dress.

"And what would we do once we got there?" said the skeptical one as she flew out of the tree. She had short blonde hair decorated with a bow with a red gemstone in its center. She wore a black vest and skirt and a white long sleeved shirt underneath.

"_If_ we can even get there." Said another. She was taller than the rest and looked like a boy at first. She had short green hair out of which stuck two antennas. She wore a white shirt, blue pants and a cape. "Who knows if the tengu will even let us by?"

"And w-what if Sanae comes b-back while w-w-were there?" Said another. She was a fairy like the first girl. She had green hair, which was done in a side ponytail, and she wore a green and blue dress. Her wings had more of an insect like appearance. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"Let's at least let Cirno explain her plan." Said a fifth. Her voice was melodious. She had pink hair and wore a brown dress and hat. She didn't wear shoes like the others. Instead, her feet were bird talons and her hands had very long and sharp nails. She had bird wings on her back.

"They probably have all sorts of cool outside world stuff up there!" Cirno said. "And I heard Sanae saying something about a terrorvision or something."

"A t-terrorvision?" The other fairy began to shake.

"Don't be afraid, Daiyousei!" Said Cirno. "I said before, I'm the strongest! Nothing will defeat me!"

"What's a terrorvision?" Asked Wriggle

"I don't know, Wriggle. Sounds like some sort of monster." Answered Rumia.

The bird girl spoke up. "I think I saw one once. It's this giant slimy thing, with spikes and eyes all over. It has got big horns and ten mouths, with teeth as big as trees! It comes out of the dark and…" Mystia told her story. It was made up at first but she soon began to believe she had seen it herself. All the others eyes widened as Mystia elaborated on the deadly "terrorvision", a wormlike monster more fearsome and deadly then the legendary Daidarabotchi and the destructive Taisui Xingjun put together. She went on to describe how Kanako had engaged in a four-day battle with the monster and had in the end, only managed to seal it away. And now the seal was broken…

"And you think we can stand up to something like that?" Daiyousei said.

Even Cirno looked daunted, but not for long. The trademark cocky grin appeared on her face. She placed her hand on Daiyousei's shoulder and said. "Don't worry. It'll be a piece of cake!"

She then shouted to everyone. "I ain't afraid of nothing! I am Cirno, the strongest to have ever lived! We can kick this things ass easy!"

"I'm not sure going up against that thing is a good idea…" Wriggle commented.

"What if it-it-it eats us?" Daiyousei said.

The others were starting to look discouraged. Cirno had to act fast. "Think of how famous we'll be if we win against the terrorvision. We'd be stronger than the gods! Everyone would have to respect us! Think of all the rewards we'd get!"

The fearful expressions on everyone's faces began to change to eagerness. "So guys! Are we ready?"

"YEAH!"

And so the five of them took off towards the mountain, their thoughts filled with the prestige and prizes they would receive for slaying the dreaded Terrorvision.

* * *

><p><em>Fairly lighthearted compared to the previous chapter. Having it all dark isn't much fun. On another note, sometimes I laugh as a write, and the part about Team <em>⑨_ certainly qualified._

_There's not much else to say. I'll have the next chapter up in a day or two. Please leave a review. Every time you don't, a cute puppy dies._

_~Dragonexx_


	5. Dragons of Summer Flame

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 5

Dragons of Summer Flame

* * *

><p><em>Damnit damnit damnit! <em>Vincent thought to himself as he flew. _Why? Why is all this happening again? And here of all places?_

He remained in his human form as he flew. He looked down to see a group of humans traveling on the road. He had the urge to transform into his true form and scare them for kicks. He resisted it; there were things he had to do first.

_But they aren't even looking up…_

_No, there are obligations to fulfill_

_Obligations smobligations, we have people to scare._

_Wait, who is we?_

_Okay okay, _I_ have people to scare._

_But my mountains…_

_Can wait, there's the pride of a dragon on the line._

_I don't know… seems like it would be in bad taste considering the situation._

_Since when has that stopped us before?_

_Again, who is this us?_

_Gah! Can you stay focused on what I'm saying for more than five seconds?_

_I could really go for something to eat about now…_

Vincent's inner debate continued as he flew. By the time he finally decided a quick scare would be alright he was already long gone from where the humans were. The trees around him were becoming scarcer and the land more rocky. The region Vincent and his family called home was a mountainous region in the more wild areas of Gensokyo. Humans were rare in this area, mostly due to the many groups of youkai here, coupled with the fact that there was little here that would interest a human.

Vincent's worries abated, as he detected no evidence of any baatezu presence in this landscape. Even so, he wasn't one to dwell on serious matters for long. _Heck, things definitely won't go as badly against these fiends as they did last time. I'm far stronger now than I was back then. _He thought.

He flew closer to the ground, following a winding river. He considered visiting a few friends he had among the youkai but decided against it.

* * *

><p>He soon came to a large mountain with a wide cave opening in its side. The way was big enough that he could enter while in his true form as a gold dragon should he wish to.<p>

Vincent felt the familiar raise in the temperature as he entered his home. Most people thought of a dragon's lair as a messy place, with bones lying about next to half-eaten meals and treasures scattered everywhere. Bloodstains on the floor and scorch marks on the walls. That couldn't be further from the truth. The entry hall was in fact mostly empty but still had a flat floor that was swept clean. The wide cavern made a sharp turn in either direction, one heading up while another headed down. At the wall in between was a smaller tunnel, this one human sized.

Vincent landed and headed through the small passage, which led to an area not unlike a human household, albeit one built inside tunnels Vincent and Hotaru had excavated upon arriving in Gensokyo. The floor had tasteful rugs and several paintings hung from the walls. Magical lights mounted on the walls illuminated the place. Various other tunnels led to other rooms, the library, the kitchen, and so on.

As he headed down a hallway, he heard shouting. "Stupid fairies! Get out!" and the sound of something being swung. Vincent was about to round a corner when two fairies flew past him giggling. He heard someone running in pursuit, and before he could react, they turned the corner and Vincent was smacked in the face with a broom.

"Oh my gods! Master! I'm so sorry; I was chasing some rock fairies that had gotten into the pantry and…" The girl holding the broom had long blonde hair and warm brown eyes. She was Miharu, a youkai who specialized in healing magic, and had served Vincent's family for many years.

"Master? Didn't I tell you from now on I was only to be addressed as the Lord of Summer Flame? Ungrateful wretch, you shall be punished for your insolence!" Vincent shouted, fire beginning to dance around him.

Miharu only sighed, used to her masters antics. She smoothed out her red dress and leaned the broom against a wall. "I thought the gap youkai said you couldn't keep the title. Something about it offending the actual god of summer, who if I remember, wasn't too pleased to be pulled out of his vacation time to…

"I know, I know." Vincent hung his head low in an exaggerated expression of shame. He heard giggling behind him and turned to see that the two fairies had returned. Despite the fact that their wings appeared to be made of stone they had no problem staying airborne. Swift as a hawk, Vincent snatched one of the fairies out of the air.

"Hey! Hey! Let me-" Before it could finish its sentence Vincent chomped down on the fairy feet first, ignoring its screams, which were soon ended with a few more bites. The other fairy fled from the area, heading in the general direction of the exit.

Vincent swallowed his snack, and then shortly after spat out a brown colored cloud of dust and energy. The cloud was absorbed back into the stone and the fairy would be reborn sometime within an hour.

"A filling snack. And as a bonus, the news will spread to the rest of them and our manor should be free of the little pests for a day or two. Three if we're lucky."

"Thank you for your assistance, my lord."

"Can you believe the vampire actually has some fairies working as maids? I asked her a while ago about that and she replied that they do make good servants when trained properly. Though I can't imagine why she would put the effort in to do that when she has plenty of willing and more competent youkai servitors."

"Well master, I…"

"Though I will admit that it does liven the place up quite a bit. Come to think of it, that's what this lair has been missing! I should start a fairy training program of my own! Now all I need is to find some fairies and..."

"Um master…"

"Wait, I just scared them off. Well maybe I could find some other kind of creature to use. Lantern archons? Possibly, they can teleport which is good for delivering messages, and they efficient. Then again, there was that time we had those monodrones. Those were funny little creatures. However, if we want better efficiency, duodrones would probably be better. Or maybe tridrones… quadrones? But then again the higher up you go with modrons the more of an attitude you get from them. Stupid axiomatics, always thinking their better than everyone else. '_Oh look at me, I'm made of metal, I'm so awesome!'"_

"Master?"

"But on the other side, slaadi make the worst of servants. Found the silverware stored in the sock drawer and for some reason they were burning our paintings at the stake…"

"Er…"

"I've got it! We could totally have mephits and elementals like those that we used to have. Those worked really well. I wonder where we will get some though. I know, I'll strike a deal with the archomentals like last time for the mephits, and then summon up some elementals on our own! That reminds me. I wonder how the City of Brass is this time of year? I should-"

"Vincent!" Miharu shouted out, knowing full well that her master could go on like this for quite some time, leaping from subject to subject.

"Oh! Hey, Miharu! You're here? How are you? How's the manor been?" Vincent appeared to have forgotten why he came here in the first place.

"Miss Mara is in the library sorting books. But master, I should be asking you how your investigation is going, and where is Lady Hotaru?"

"Oh… that…" Vincent's expression became more serious as he recounted the previous night's events.

"Dear gods!" Miharu said upon hearing the news of Keine. "And those two strangers?"

"I can make a reasonable guess that the woman, Kanna, is a baatezu noble of some sort. However, the man... he did not take much action other than to steal the maid's timepiece. I don't know for sure but I do have a suspicion… We should head to the library."

"As you wish."

* * *

><p>They made their way towards the library, following a short tunnel. There was a sign on the wall near the entrance to the library saying <em>Fire elementals are not allowed past this point! We don't want a repeat of last time!<em>

The library it's self was a decent sized room but in no way compared to Voile, that impossibly large library of Patchouli's.

As they entered, a sphere of light flew down to meet them. It transformed into a silver haired girl in black robes with scaly hands and feet. Unfortunately she transformed while in mid air and wasn't able to react enough to fly before she hit the ground with a crash. Hastily she stood up and dusted off her robes before bowing, and accidently dropping the book she had in hand. She picked it up and tried to stand and preserve what dignity she had left.

Her long hair was done in pigtails and she had significantly pointed ears. This was Mara, another youkai who served under Vincent

"Welcome home master." Mara said.

"Master? I thought I was to be called the Lord of Summer-

"Vincent!" Miharu snapped.

"Sorry…" Vincent apologized. He then went on to relate again what had happened the previous night. He then asked Mara. "I have a request for you. Bring my any books you know of that relate to fallen angels."

* * *

><p><em>Hmm… An OC focused chapter. Like chapters two and three. This was originally part of chapter 4 but I divided them apart as it already switches perspectives of characters and I didn't want to add another. Anyways it was pretty fun to write!<em>

_In a series like Touhou, where's there's a huge amount of characters and more appear with each new game, there's no point in including an OC if they're only going to play a minor role in the story. If that's the case then I might as well have just used some minor canon character._

_On that note, I still haven't decided if I'm going to include Ten Desires characters. They are rather new and I can't think of any role for them, but how it turns out is yet to be determined._

_Thanks for reading, and as always please leave a review to tell me what you think!_

_~ Dragonexx  
><em>


	6. News at Seven

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 6

News at Seven

* * *

><p>Two figures flew through the night sky in the direction of the human village. They were dressed similarly. White shirts and black skirts. The one in front had short black hair, on which she wore a small red hat. She had a shapely body and from her back sprouted a pair of black wings. She had a rather long nose and pointed ears. In her hand, she held a microphone. Clipped to her belt were a notebook and pencil, along with a photographic camera and a fan shaped like a maple leaf.<p>

The second figure had white hair and from there wolf ears. Her skirt had a hole cut in it to allow a wolf's tail to emerge. Slung over her back were a shield and sword. She held with both hands a filming camera and she flew directly behind the first girl.

"Striped…"

"What was that?" The first girl asked.

"Um… Uh… nothing. Shameimaru-Sama, when we get back, I'd like to do some editing of the footage."

"Editing?"

"You know… separating some of the unnecessary footage from what were going to broadcast."

"Sure… just let me see it first, Momiji"

"Er… Uh… there's no need for that!"

"If you say so…"

The crow and wolf tengu were headed to the human village to make a news broadcast on its current status along with the rest of Gensokyo, as per the request of the tengu boss, Lord Tenma. He had wanted to quickly gather any information on the strange monsters they tengu had repelled the previous night and the explosions in the forest of magic and human village clearly indicated something had happened there as well. Televisions were becoming more common on Youkai Mountain, though anywhere else in Gensokyo they were rare.

After flying for a while, Momiji spoke up. "Who's that down there?"

"Where?" Aya looked down to see two figures flying towards Youkai Mountain, in the direction of the cavern that led to the underworld.

One of the figures had black bat wings and a pointed tail. She wore a tanktop and skirt, clothes that looked like they came from the outside world. Her hair was done in pigtails and she had horns emerging from her head.

However, Aya was more interested in the second figure. A blonde girl with the appearance of a child. She wore a red vest and skirt and a white shirt underneath. Her hair was done in a side ponytail and she wore a white mob cap decorated with a red bow. Sprouting from her back were perhaps strangest wings in all of gensokyo. They looked more like iron bars with strange crystal shards of different colors hanging from them. They crystals shook as she flew. In her hand, she held a strange weapon, a twisted metal pole with a spade like tip at the end.

"Flandre Scarlet? Outside the Scarlet Devil Manor? This will make a much better story!" Aya exclaimed.

"Shameimaru-Sama? Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Momiji warned. "Flandre is dangerous enough but that other girl looks…"

However, Aya was already beyond listening. She dove downwards, landing behind a group of trees, and gestured at Momiji, who reluctantly followed.

She looked from her hiding spot to see that the two of them had landed near the entrance to the cavern leading underground.

"All right. Starting recording now!" Aya shouted into the microphone.

She leaped out from the trees to stand in the middle of the clearing, while Momiji moved forwards to record.

"This is Aya Shameimaru reporting for Bunbunmaru News, televised edition! I have just arrived on the scene of a brazen kidnapping! Flandre Scarlet, sister to the well known vampire Remilia Scarlet, has abducted this poor youkai girl!" Aya walked up to the yellow eyed girl and held the microphone up to her. "How does it feel to know that your life may be forfeit at any moment?"

"Flandre-dear, who the hell is this?" the girl asked.

"Ooooh! Hey Kyreth! That's the crow lady! She's a reporter for that newspaper thing!" Flandre said excitedly. "She interviewed me once for some book thing she was making. And we also played danmaku!"

"Crow lady?" Aya said indignantly. "I am Aya Shameimaru and this is my assistant Momiji Inubashiri! I am the head of Bunbunmaru news! The most popular newspaper in Gensokyo! In fact we've gotten so popular that we've started our own televised news program!" She turned to the camera. "And as a special treat to our viewers, when purchasing your newspaper, say the password 'waterfall' to receive a special 25% discount!"

"News?" Kyreth frowned for a second before a wicked grin appeared on her face. "Well that's quite troublesome…"

"Troublesome?" Aya asked.

"Shameimaru-Sama? I have a bad feeling about this…"

"You see. I was ordered to keep my actions covert, to avoid causing a disturbance until the tasks were completed. And having my name and face spread through the news media would certainly cause said disturbance."

"Um…" Aya was starting to look unsure.

"So it looks like the action I was hoping to find, has found me!" Kyreth swiftly struck Aya with a punch, sending her flying back into the trunk of a tree.

Aya wasn't down yet. She stood, dropped the microphone and grabbed her fan. "It looks like our correspondent has been drawn into battle. She has no choice but to fight!"

She swung her fan and a blade of rending air shot towards Kyreth. She dodged it and ran towards Aya, her claws outstretched. Aya dodged the swipes of the claws and then fired a burst of air, sending Kyreth flying backwards. Kyreth flipped and landed on her feet. "You're better than you look." She commented. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you."

Black energy swirled around Kyreth's hands. She began launching the energy at Aya, who easily dodged the shots. She was about to close the distance with her enemy when black chains appeared around her, binding her to the spot. Kyreth fired more dark energy at her, however before it could hit, Momiji jumped in the way, blocking the blasts with her shield. She then cut apart the chains with her sword, freeing Aya.

"Thanks" Aya said.

Momiji could not reply as at that moment Flandre jumped into combat, shouting eagerly "I wanna play too!" She wielded the spear Lævateinn, which was blazing with fire. Momiji managed to block the first swing but the force behind it was so great that she was sent flying backwards. She skidded along the ground, and barely managed to recover and leap away as Flandre smashed into the ground, creating a smoking crater.

Meanwhile, Kyreth and Aya were battling in mid air. Aya worked to keep her distance, using her superior speed and control over the winds to avoid Kyreth's energy shots. She swerved to avoid several shots and when she looked back at her enemy, she was gone.

"Right here!" Kyreth shouted. Aya turned around only for Kyreth's fist to connect with the side of her head. The next punch was an uppercut to the stomach, driving the breath out of her. She doubled over in pain. Kyreth then brought both her fists down to the back of Aya's head sending her crashing to the ground.

Momiji stepped aside to avoid another swing of the Lævateinn. Flandre's attacks were wild and easy enough to dodge. She leaped back putting some distance between her and the vampire. However, the two red crystals on Flandre's wings glowed brightly and the fires on her spear grew larger. She swung the spear against the ground and an enormous blast of fire shot out.

Momiji swiftly took flight and barely escaped from the path of the blast. When the smoke cleared away, she saw a massive swath had been cut in the trees, like a black scar on the forest.

Aya struggled to stand, her vision was blurry for a second but she managed to recover, only for Kyreth to strike another blow to the head. Aya was sent flying through the forest again; branches snapping lose as she crashed through them. She landed face down in the dirt. She looked up in confusion and saw her camera lying in front of her. What was she doing here? She had pictures to take, and articles to write. She reached for the camera and grasped it, only for Kyreth's boot to come smashing down on her hand. Aya screamed in pain as she felt her hand smashed into the camera. Kyreth laughed as she twisted her foot, causing even more pain. She lifted her foot to reveal Aya's broken and bleeding hand. Aya looked at the injury, stunned and barely able to stay conscious. Pieces of metal were not supposed to go through the skin were they?

Kyreth hoisted Aya up by her neck and slammed her against a nearby tree, pinning her against it. Aya saw her yellow eyes shift to a violet color. Kyreth lifted her free hand, showing the claws. "I just had an idea. You'll make a fine gift for a friend of mine. However, I don't think she'll mind the state of the goods she receives, which is all the more fun for me." Kyreth struck Aya's shoulder with her claws, and then dragged them through the flesh, cutting a wound all the way down her arm. Aya screamed in pain. She managed to get her foot between them and kicked Kyreth back. She took off only for Kyreth to grab her by the leg and slam her to the ground.

"Now now. Where are you going, dear? The fun's only just beginning!" Kyreth placed her foot on Aya's back and then grabbed one of her wings with both hands. There was a horrendous snapping sound as Kyreth broke the bones. Aya screamed even louder, tears streaking down her face.

Kyreth only laughed, and then kicked her into the trunk of another tree. As she tried to stand Kyreth walked over to her grabbed her leg. She broke it over her knee with another loud snap. Aya screamed and almost blacked out when she looked back to see bone protruding from the flesh.

"Bird bones are so thin and easy to break aren't they?" Kyreth taunted. "And here I was thinking that I might have a decent fight on my hands."

"Please, stop…" Aya pleaded, now dragging herself along the ground with her one good arm.

"Stop? Why stop when were having so much fun?" Kyreth stomped down on Aya's forearm breaking more bones. She then lifted Aya up by the damaged limb, causing the tengu to scream more. "What shall I do next? I want you alive, but hand's aren't necessary for life are they?"

"NOOOO!" Momiji pushed Flandre out of the way, dropped her shield, and flew as fast as she could towards Aya and Kyreth. Kyreth dropped Aya turned towards her, but too late. Momiji's sword pierced through Kyreth's chest.

Momiji allowed herself a breath of relief, thinking she had won. However, Kyreth merely looked down at the sword piercing her heart and asked. "Is that it?" She grabbed the blade of the sword with one hand and pulled it in up to the hilt. Momiji was too shocked to let go and was pulled along with it. Kyreth then struck with the claws of her free hand, drawing a deep wound across the wolf tengu's body. Kyreth raked her claws across the wolf tengu's body again and again drawing more blood.

Kyreth grabbed both tengu and slammed their heads together knocking them out before slamming their broken bodies into the ground. Flandre landed next to her. All of her crystals were glowing brightly and she smiled innocently as she walked towards them. She held out her hand and said a single word. "Kyuu."

* * *

><p><em>Wow… Sometimes I even scare myself. And before this gets taken the wrong way, Aya is one of my favorite Touhou characters. I wonder what that says about me...<em>

_Anyways I finally get to the part with Flandre! My number one favorite character in Touhou. There are just so many ways to write her I still haven't decided on how I'm going to. Anyways expect Flandre to play a major role in this story. Especially when __████████* happens._

_Please leave a review and tell me what you think!_

_~Dragonexx_

_*Spoiler blocked._


	7. Jealousy Beneath the Earths Crust

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 7

Jealousy Beneath the Earth's Crust

* * *

><p>Kyreth grabbed Flandre's arm just as she was about to close her hand. With her other hand she removed the sword from her chest and tossed it aside.<p>

"No Flandre. Let's hold back on… uh… 'kyuuing' them for now."

"Aww… The game was just getting to the best part though! I don't want to lose the game! Big sis _never _lets me kyuu stuff!" Flandre struggled for a second and then gave up. "Their broken anyways, what's the big deal? Big sis will just get me a new one."

"They're unconscious. Why don't you drink their blood while you have the chance?" Kyreth suggested, trying to divert Flandre's focus from destruction.

"Eww!" Flandre looked disgusted. "Why would anyone do that?"

"You are a vampire aren't you?" Kyreth asked.

"Yeah. But what does that have to do with drinking blood?" Flandre asked, with complete innocence.

"Because vampires… Then what do you eat?"

"Saky makes me cake and juice!" Flandre said. "You have cake and juice at your place, don't you?"

"Yeah, but why would a vampire… never mind. Just wait by the cave."

Flandre stomped over to the entrance to the cavern, sulking.

Back with the tengu, Kyreth stepped over to them. "I too would prefer to kill you, albeit my manner would have been slow and painful. However, as I said, you'll make a fine gift for an old friend of mine and it will certainly gain her support."

She gestured with her hands and a black circle appeared on the ground beneath each girl. However, unlike before, nothing emerged from the circles. Instead, shadowy hands appeared and pulled them down into the darkness. When it was finished, not a single trace of them remained.

Kyreth headed back towards the cave, towards an upset Flandre. She was trying to look intimidating, but with the appearance of a child, it only succeeded in being rather comical.

"Relax, Flan-dear. I didn't break past that guard girl and free you only for you to sit on the sidelines. Where were going there are plenty of people for you to play with."

Flandre's face lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah. Besides, why bother kyuuing them anyways. The fun ends far too soon. You learned that from your stuffed animals. It's much more fun to drag it out. Now let's get moving. Once we finish our work down here, I've got some friends for you to meet."

"Yay! Friends!" Flandre leaped up and down in excitement, the crystals on her wings swinging and clinking.

The two of them headed into the cavern entrance, not noticing Momiji's camera. It had landed in a tree and the **RECORD **light was still on.

* * *

><p>The darkness of the caves proved no problem for the two of them. Both were creatures who naturally inhabited dark places after all. Kyreth looked at the walls, which were covered in spider webs. Ugh, Kyreth had had enough of dealing with spiders back in the Abyss. That damn Spider Queen was an enemy of hers, always encroaching on her territory and sending her armies to invade.<p>

But now, with Flandre's sheer destructive power under her control, she would not have to worry about any more rivals seeking to gain power in the abyss. She swiped a clawed hand at a web, tearing it to shreds, and imagined her rivals dying slowly and horrible at her hands. First, she would shatter all their limbs, and then claw out their internal organs and then…

"Stop right there! I saw what you did to those tengu outside!"

Someone in front of them shook Kyreth from her blood-soaked daydreams. She found that she had come to large bridge crossing over an underground river. The river was flowing rapidly meaning it would be suicidal to try to swim across. The ceiling was low in this area, forcing all travelers to have to cross the bridge on foot.

There was a single person standing on the bridge blocking passage. She had short blonde hair and deep green eyes. She was dressed quite stylishly, though the expression on her face was one of rage.

"Who the hell are you?" Kyreth asked. "Some sort of bridge troll?"

"I am the Hashihime, Parsee Mizuhashi! I am the guardian of the bridge!"

"Hashihime?" Kyreth asked.

"Oh! That's the bridge princess!" Flandre explained. "Patchy told me all about her when Marissa came down here!"

"Bridge princess? Oh, I've heard of you." Kyreth said. Her voice took on a mocking tone. "Pitiful creature controlled by jealousy."

"What?" Parsee's eyes narrowed.

"Quite the tragic story you have. Once an ordinary human, you had a husband, but he left you for another woman."

"How do you know all that?" Parsee demanded.

"I'm far older than I look." Kyreth said. She slowly walked towards Parsee "You became jealous of the happiness they had together. That envy was corrupted and twisted within you until you became a youkai. Then, you killed them while they were crossing a bridge."

"What are you getting at?"

"And look at you now. Driven underground because the surface worlders could not stand the presence of you and the rest of these youkai. And then they make you guard this bridge. My guess is even the people down here don't like you!"

"I have friends down here! Don't think because I spend most of my time up here that I'm alone!" Parsee shouted, though she was starting to sound unsure.

"Nonsense, why would they care for a pitiful envious creature like you? You manipulate jealousy in the weak minded, and can turn them against each other. They would never trust you." Kyreth stepped closer to Parsee, her eyes glowing. Parsee found she couldn't tear her gaze away from them. "They only pretend as such. They wanted a bridge guard, and they figured giving you the job would get you out of their sight. Why do you listen to them?"

"Why do I…" Parsee's eyes began to dull. "They don't like me…"

"Come with us. This world of Gensokyo holds nothing worth being jealous over. You could be a true princess in the Abyss!"

"I could…" Parsee shook her head. "No! You're trying to trick me! I'm not letting you pass!"

"So be it." Kyreth smiled. "Looks like we have another person to play with, Flandre."

"Hooray!" Flandre cheered. Her crystals began to glow and fire danced along her spear.

A card appeared in Parsee's hand. She shouted. "Jealousy Sign! '_Green Eyed Monster!_'"

Green danmaku appeared like a rolling cloud. The spheres of energy themselves remained stationary though the cloud extended towards Kyreth and Flandre. Kyreth leaped out of the way of the attack, only to find that it followed her. Kyreth leaped about the bridge, staying out of the way of the danmaku. She then clenched her fist and fired several blasts of darkness. The darkness pierced the cloud, opening an escape route. She then leaped straight towards Parsee, claws outstretched. Parsee ducked under the attack only to be struck by Flandre. She was knocked against the railing of the bridge and the spell ended. Kyreth moved towards the Hashihime, her claws outstretched.

She raised her hand, prepared to rend the youkai to pieces. As she struck downwards, something stopped her attack. She looked to see that some sort of webbing bound her hand. Suddenly she was pulled backwards, off the bridge and was falling into the raging river. Kyreth gestured with her hands and cast a spell of her own. The water beneath her froze into solid ice, saving her from being carried away. She then leaped back onto the bridge to see another person helping Parsee up.

She also had blonde hair, done in a bun by a brown bow. She wore a brown dress that expanded at the waist. It had six gold colored buttons and black sleeves.

"Another one? Who are you?"

"I am the Tsuchigumo, Yamame Kurodani!" Said the youkai. "I'm not going to let you harm the people of the underground!"

"Tsuchigumo?" Kyreth questioned.

"An Earth Spider." Flandre translated.

"Great… again with the fucking spiders! I'll kill the both of you!" Kyreth's eyes turned from gold to violet as she and Flandre both leapt towards their enemies.

"Trap Sign! '_Capture Web!_'" Yamame shouted.

Immediately webbing shot from Yamame's fingertips, binding both Flandre and Kyreth. Flandre dropped her spear and struggled futilely against the bindings. Kyreth was also unable to escape. The webs then moved to anchor against the ceiling and walls.

Yamame didn't waste any time. "Spider! '_Cave Spiders Nest!_'"

To Kyreth's sensitive ears, there was the sound of massive amounts of feet moving. Kyreth looked to see hordes of spiders crawling down the webs towards them. Flandre screamed as the spiders crawled all over her, even obscuring the light of her wings. "Get them off! Get them off!"

Kyreth shouted threats and obscenities as the spiders crawled all over her as well. She turned to Flandre. "Destroy these webs! Make them go kyuu!" She felt the sensation of tens of thousands of little fangs biting into her flesh and injecting poison into her.

"Get them off! Big sis, help me!" Flandre was in a panic and not listening.

"Had enough?" Yamame asked. "Leave now and I'll cure the poison."

"Poison? I'm a fucking demon! Poisons have no effect on me!" Kyreth spoke, then spat out spiders that had crawled into her mouth. She began to glow. "You know the one thing about webs and spiders that I actually like? They burn easily!"

Kyreth cast another of her spells and her body was surrounded with a nimbus of fire. The webs burnt away and the spiders were incinerated, leaving nothing but ashes behind. She directed the flame towards the webs binding Flandre, careful not to hit the vampire.

"Now then, let's get back to our game! Flan-dear you go ahead into the city, there's plenty of fun to be had there!"

"Yay!" Flan took off down the tunnel past the others and disappeared around a corner.

"This is all just a game to you?" Yamame said, shocked.

"That's correct." Kyreth said, laughing. "I care nothing for any big 'plan' that might be enacted. I only agreed to come with the baatezu because it looked like I could have some fun here."

"People are suffering because of your actions! You're as bad as that vampire, treating people like toys! In fact, your worse! At least she doesn't know any better!" Parsee accused. "Why do you enjoy causing so much misery?"

"What else are weaklings like you for?"

"Weaklings?"

"Let me explain. I am a being of chaos. Yet even so, beings like me will at least follow one law that is constant throughout all of creation and beyond. The strong do as they like, and the weak will submit or be crushed. Look at you, a weak pathetic little creature, utterly consumed by jealousy of everyone greater than yourself. And a spider, hated for your control over diseases." Kyreth stepped towards stunned youkai, her eyes glowing. "But my offer still stands. Come with me and you will be strong. You won't have to be jealous of anyone anymore!"

Yamame appeared to be unsure of what to do. She looked at Parsee.

Parsee hesitated as well, but then clenched her fists. "No! We're not going to help you hurt more people!"

"What? You chose to be forever weak and jealous?" Kyreth said, not comprehending why someone could turn down an offer like that.

"Yes, I do. Perhaps I am a weakling like you say. However, if I'm going to be jealous of anyone, let it be my friends! I used to be as you say, living alone and miserable. But being driven underground is now I realize the best thing that's ever happened to me." Parsee gripped Yamame's hand. "I met Yamame! I have friends! I have people who I care about and who care about me! If I can't be happy, then at least let them be!"

"Pathetic. The weak band together in an attempt to overthrow the strong, in a gross perversion of the natural order. If you want to be jealous, then you can be jealous of the fact that everyone else is alive while you two are dead!"

"I don't think so. I won't let you hurt anybody anymore! I am Parsee Mizuhashi, the youkai guardian of the bridge. YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

Parsee lifted her hands and placed her index and middle fingers on her forehead. "Tongue-Cut Sparrow! '_Hate for the Humble and Rich_!'"

A duplicate of Parsee appeared and both began firing barrages of danmaku. Kyreth leaped away, avoiding the shots, only for more webbing to trap her. She burned through it, but too late, and the danmaku to strike her, exploding in bursts of energy. Kyreth wasn't down yet. She charged forwards towards the Parsee that was shooting the larger bullets, weaving through the barrage. She struck at it with her razor claws, tearing open the neck. However, her enemy simply faded away. She turned to see the real Parsee moving to put more distance between them. From there she renewed her barrage of danmaku.

"Clever. But not enough." Kyreth said.

A black and red burst of energy struck at Parsee, sending her crashing against a wall. The cavern shook ominously. Kyreth then charged at Yamame, cutting through more webs with her claws. She slashed the spider-girl across the arm.

Yamame rolled to the side to avoid another claw attack and then unleashed more webbing from her fingertips. Kyreth burned through it and then grabbed Yamame by the arm. With her other hand, she clawed a massive gash in Yamame's back. The spider youkai cried out in pain as Kyreth let her fall to the ground. She thought the battle over and was about to continue on to join Flandre in the city. However, she heard the youkai rising up again. "This isn't over!"

"Yes it is." Kyreth said coldly. She fired a blast of darkness from her hand again. However, this one was not aimed at the youkai. She blasted the ceiling and it began to crack.

Parsee recovered from Kyreth's earlier attack just in time. She leaped forwards and pushed Yamame out of the way. The ceiling completely caved in, tons of rock crashing down on her.

Kyreth crossed the bridge leading down into the underworld, laughing.

* * *

><p>When the dust settled, Yamame rushed to the rubble. It completely blocked off the tunnel. She could see Parsee, the lower half of her body crushed beneath the stones.<p>

"Parsee! Don't worry! I'll dig you out!" She frantically began shifting the rock but it became clear it would be a futile effort.

Parsee looked up at Yamame weakly. "Looks like she was right."

"What? What do you mean?" Yamame was crying.

"You're alright. It makes me… jealous…" Parsee rested her head against the ground and lay still.

* * *

><p><em>Did I just kill the Parsee? Kyreth's homicidal rampage continues, I guess. And she was another of my favorite characters...<br>_

_Anyways, thanks for reading! Please leave a review. Tell me what you think. Even one word is fine…_

_~Dragonexx_


	8. Ambitions of the Abyss

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 8

Ambitions of the Abyss

* * *

><p>Kyreth caught up to Flandre and was surprised to find that she had not gone into the city yet. She was waiting on the cliff overlooking the underground city.<p>

The city was quite a remarkable sight. It had the appearance of an eternal festival. Its streets were lit by lights of all colors and stood in stark contrast to the darkness that was the rest of the underground.

"You haven't headed into the city yet?" Kyreth asked.

"I was waiting for you!" Flandre said cheerfully. "I didn't want you to miss out on the fun!"

Kyreth didn't respond and instead looked at the path leading towards the city. It was a road that winded around rocks and stalagmites the size of skyscrapers, and it was lit by lanterns hanging from posts at regular intervals. Kyreth could see two figures heading up the pathways.

The taller of them had a well-endowed figure, and her arms were muscular. She had long blonde hair and from her forehead protruded a red horn with a yellow star on it. She wore a white shirt and blue and red striped skirt. On her wrists and ankles were manacles and broken chains making her rattle and clank whenever she took a step. In one hand, she carried a bowl of sake.

The other figure had oddly two sets of ears. One pair of cat ears and a pair of human ears. She had red hair, which was done in two braids, and she wore a green dress.

"Looks like they're already investigating the collapse." Kyreth leaped off the cliff and down onto the path to meet them. "So. It looks like we're starting round three?"

The blonde girl spoke first. "Those horns? Are you an oni?"

"No. I am a tanar'ri. And I certainly hope you won't be as piss easy as the last bunch."

"That blood on your hands." The catgirl said. "What have you done to Parsee and Yamame?"

"Oh. I'm certain at least one of them is dead, crushed under several tons of rock. The other might well bleed to death."

"You monster!" shouted the girl. "I'm gonna-"

The catgirl was cut off by the oni placing her arm in front of her.

"Orin, don't. Go get Lady Satori."

"But, Yuugi…"

"Hurry, we probably don't have much time. I'll hold them off!" Yuugi said.

Orin nodded and flew off over the city.

"I don't think so." Kyreth turned to Flandre. "Hey Flan! I have an idea! Why don't you play tag with the cat!"

"Yay! Tag! This is gonna be fun!" Flandre eagerly took off in pursuit.

"Orin!" Yuugi moved to take off after her. However, Kyreth swiftly moved in front of her.

"You're ignoring me? I'm hurt!" Kyreth said mockingly.

"You're about to be hurting a lot more if you don't move!" Yuugi threatened as she tossed her sake bowl aside and clenched her fists.

"What happened to the party loving oni I was told about? I was really looking forwa-" Kyreth never got to finish her sentence as Yuugi then hit her with a solid punch straight to the side of head. She was sent flying backwards and crashed through several rocks and skidded to a halt. The lower part of her tank was torn, and she spat out a glob of blood.

She looked up to see the oni coming down upon her from the air. "You'll pay for what you did to them!"

Kyreth leaped away as Yuugi came crashing down, forming a crater in the ground. She leaped out of the hole and aimed another punch, which Kyreth sidestepped. Kyreth then leaped forwards to aim a kick at Yuugi's head. However, the oni blocked the attack with one arm and then grabbed Kyreth with her free hand.

"Uh oh…" Kyreth said.

"Damn right!" Yuugi slammed Kyreth into the ground, lifted her up and slammed again. She then tossed Kyreth straight up into the air, sending her crashing into the ceiling. The impact dislodged several stalactites. Kyreth fell towards the ground apparently knocked out.

As Yuugi drew close, however, she quickly sprung into action swiping with her claws. Yuugi was fast enough to only get cut on the arm. Kyreth landed and flipped away from another flurry of punches.

"I take it back. This is the fight I've been looking for." Kyreth looked at her torn clothes and then snapped her fingers. Her outfit changed. She now had a black corset and skirt and wore a spiked collar. ON her arms were two armlets decorated with gemstones and on her forearms, she had similar attire. A dark aura surrounded her hands and her wings grew in size, spreading out to their full length.

"Let's get serious now." She said, smiling like a wolf cornering it's prey.

* * *

><p>Rin fled through the streets of an empty district of the city. The buildings were had been damaged in the earthquakes some time ago and nobody had cared to fix them. The place was completely abandoned, and not even the oni held parties here. She hoped she could lose Flandre here and make it safely to Chireiden.<p>

She transformed into her cat form and leaped through the broken window of a building when she heard Flandre following behind her.

"Where are you kitty?" Flandre said. "Come on out! Were playing tag, not hide and seek."

Orin remained still, hoping Flandre would give up the chase. No such luck. Flandre landed in the alleyway and looked around. "We can play hide and seek if you want to though! I guess I'm still it."

She looked at the house opposite the one Orin was hiding in. "It's going to take forever to look through there though… I know!" Flandre lifted her hand and pointed at the house. She clenched her fist and said "Kyuu!"

The building exploded sending chunks of wood and stone flying everywhere. When the smoke cleared, there was only rubble. Flandre looked at the wreckage and sighed. "The kitty wasn't in there… Maybe she's in this one!"

Flandre turned towards the house Orin was hiding in. Orin didn't waste any time, she leapt out the window just as Flandre closed her hand and detonated the building. She thought she might lose Flandre in the scattering wreckage, but again she was wrong.

"There you are! Oh! Were playing tag again!"

Orin returned to her human form and took off flying, praying to whatever god might be listening that Flandre did not decide to destroy her.

* * *

><p>Flandre however, was having the most fun she could ever remember having. She rarely got to see the outside and she was enjoying every second of it. Her excitement caused her powers to run wild, the wings on her back glowing brightly. Every time she came to an obstacle, instead of maneuvering around it she smashed through it, no matter if it was a house or a boulder. In fact, one could trace Flandre's path through the city by the trail of demolished buildings.<p>

Despite all this, the kitty was still getting away. Flandre was determined not to lose so she lifted up Lævateinn, which became engulfed in flames. She swung the spear and several bolts of fire shot out. The fire struck head on against the kitty and exploded in a massive fireball. Flandre headed to where the fireball had struck to find the catgirl still able to move. She dodged Flan's attempt to grab her and kept heading towards the edge of the city. She managed to reach a tunnel heading downwards just as Flandre fired another blast of flame. The entrance to the tunnel collapsed, sealing it off behind her.

Flandre sighed. She however brightened up again when she thought about Kyreth. She could join in on her game! Now if she could just remember which way she had come…

* * *

><p>The battle between Yuugi and Kyreth was in full swing. Kyreth charged forwards with her shadow enveloped claws and attempted to rake the oni. However, Yuugi grabbed her wrist and proceeded to slam her down on her back. She was about to stomp down when Kyreth spat some sort of acid at her. Kyreth swiftly stood up and landed a solid punch against the oni. The darkness exploded sending her enemy flying backwards. The oni was barely scratched and picked up a massive boulder with ease. She hurled it at Kyreth just as the demon flew towards her, knocking her out of the air and crushing her beneath it.<p>

Kyreth easily shattered the boulder only to be grabbed by the oni's hand. She was slammed repeatedly against the ground, again and again. Finally, the oni leaped into the air and threw her down. The entire ground shook as she plowed a deep crater in the cavern floor.

Almost immediately after the rocks settled, Kyreth burst from the crater, her entire body surrounded with an aura of dark energy. Kyreth laughed as she directed a wave of energy straight at the oni. She then landed on the ground as the oni was sent flying. She began speaking words of magic, and then slammed her fist against the ground. As Yuugi landed, the ground beneath her let lose a geyser of black energy knocking her high into the air. Kyreth quickly flew towards her, claws outstretched. However in mid-air Yuugi twisted and caught Kyreth. Ignoring the pain the dark aura caused her, the oni wrapped her arms around the demon. She flew downwards, slamming them both into the ground, and forming another crater. Kyreth knocked Yuugi off her and leaped out of the hole.

"Heh, your not bad!" Kyreth said. "You're certainly putting up more of a fight than the weaklings I fought before."

"I would hope so. Don't underestimate the strength of an oni.

"You oni like to party, right?"

"What's your point?"

I'm thinking if you would help me, I could transfer this entire city to my layer of the abyss, the Blood Carnival. There the parties never stop, you and the rest of the oni would fit just nicely!"

"You think after what you did to Parsee and Yamame, I would take any offer from you?" Yuugi shouted in anger. She gripped Kyreth by the neck.

"No, not really. Can't blame a girl for trying though."

"As a matter of fact, I can." Yuugi hurled Kyreth back, and then fired a barrage of danmaku at her, the spheres of energy exploding in mid air. She leaped towards Kyreth as she fell towards the ground. Kyreth twisted in mid-air, and dodged a punch. She landed and swiftly struck with her claws. The oni ducked and then struck with an uppercut straight to Kyreths stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She was launched into the air again, but recovered and fired down more blasts of dark energy. Yuugi took off into the air after kyreth and fired danmaku to intercept Kyreth's shots. She then burst through the cloud to hit kyreth head on with her horn. The horn pierced the demons shoulder.

Kyreth let out a piercing screech, and the aura surrounding her burst outwards, knocking the two combatants apart. Kyreth landed on her feet. She saw the oni still charging straight towards her. She leaped away from the punch and fired a volley of dark blasts, which the oni guarded against. She kept trying to close with Kyreth who kept her distance.

"Hah! Scared?" Yuugi taunted.

"No. I like to claw open people as much as anyone else, but I'm not stupid." She lifted her hands into the air and shouted the words to yet another spell. The ceiling of the cavern trembled and then the rock formed into a massive arm and fist. It smashed down upon Yuugi. Kyreth gestured with her hand to control the stony limb. The arm smashed the oni down into the ground again and again. Finally, Kyreth stopped and the rock fist disintegrated into dust. She thought the oni defeated when she heard a shout.

"Feat of Strength! '_Storm on Mount Ooe!_'" Danmaku bullets began raining down upon Kyreth. As she focused on dodging, Yuugi drew closer to her. Her fists glowed as she rushed towards Kyreth. The previous spell was just a distraction. It ended as Yuugi struck Kyreth a fierce uppercut, knocking her into the air. "Four Devas Arcanum!" Yuugi leaped up into the air after Kyreth and struck a solid punch downwards, sending her crashing into the ground, forming yet another crater. "_Knock Out in Three Steps!" _Yuugi struck down at Kyreth while she lay on the ground, driving her deeper and sending boulders flying. The entire cavern trembled. Yuugi heard the sound of Kyreth's bones breaking.

The crater was obscured by a cloud of dust, but Yuugi was sure she had finished off her opponent. She climbed out of the hole, breathing heavily. Even for an oni, the battle had been exhausting; she barely had the strength to fly. She was about to head back into the city to help Orin against Flandre, when she heard rocks shifting behind her.

_No! _She thought. _It can't be possible!_

She turned to see Kyreth floating out of the crater. She wasn't unharmed however. The bones had protruded from her shins and her arms were twisted by the impact. A large crack in her skull was constantly spilling blood and her neck had been snapped, leaving her head facing in an odd direction. Yuugi watched in horror as the wounds began to repair themselves. The protruding bones moved back into place and new flesh grew over the open wounds. The skull fracture closed and her neck realigned. Kyreth landed on the ground, looking as if nothing had happened to her.

"I heard you oni like to fight. Well here's a lesson for you. Always make sure your enemy is actually finished off before you leave."

"W-What the hell are you?" Yuugi asked.

"I am the Tanar'ri Princess Kyreth, and I am one of the many demon lords of the Infinite Layers of The Abyss."

"The Abyss?" Yuugi asked. She was still breathing hard.

"You'll find out what that is soon enough." Kyreth said. She held out her hand and a red and black aura surrounded her fist. She spoke a single word of power and the oni screamed out, her body wracked with pain. Kyreth then landed next to her, while Yuugi struggled to remain standing. At point blank Kyreth fired the demonic energy straight into Yuugi's head. The oni was sent flying backwards, through several rocks, and she lay still.

* * *

><p>Orin rushed through the tunnel that headed deeper and deeper into the earth. The temperature began rising rapidly, and light could be seen at the end of the tunnel. However, this light was not the typical light one would expect to see, for in fact, these lights weren't indicating an ascension to a Greater Place. These lights were the fires of hell, or more specifically former hell. While most surface worlders would be fearful, or at least unnerved while in this area, the blazing heat was welcoming and comforting to the youkai who resided beneath the earth. The entire underground was once a hell, where the Judges banished sinful souls. Now the majority of it was simply dark tunnels, and the temperature in the capital was normally cool.<p>

The oni rarely came this deep, preferring to revel in the city above. The only beings who resided this deep were raven youkai and the spirits left behind when the Hell of Blazing Fires was moved to a different location. This suited the ruler of the underground quite nicely. Though officially she was in charge, problems rarely arose that required her to take action, so she mostly kept to herself. Even the recent Incident with the release of evil spirits and a plan to incinerate Gensokyo had barely caused a stir among the eternal party.

There was only one structure in this large cavern, and it was a towering manor. Its walls were made of stone, and its windows were stained glass. There was a pit in the courtyard with a spiraling staircase winding down its sides. This led to the deepest part of Former Hell. Though the damned were no longer condemned to it, the fires still burned. The flames however had been put to good use, fueling a nuclear reactor.

Orin burst through the doors of the manor, and ran down the halls. "Miss Satori! Miss Satori!" She cried.

"Unyu? What's the matter Orin?"

She was answered not by her master, but by her friend. This girl had long black hair and large black wings protruded from her back. She was dressed simply, wearing only brown dress. Despite her casual appearance, she was quite well known, having devoured the corpse of a sun god and gained the power of nuclear fusion. Though it couldn't be seen in her current form, the eye of the Yatagarasu was imbedded in her chest. The Incident she had caused was now past, and she simply managed the furnace.

"Utsuho! Where is the master?" Orin asked.

Utsuho was not incredibly bright, but she could easily notice the rare desperation in her best friend's voice and eyes. She was about to respond when a voice spoke from behind her.

"I am right here." She said calmly. "There is no need for explanation; your mind has already told me what I need to know."

Both of them jumped. Even with all the time they had been her pets, Satori Komeiji still scared them occasionally. Their master was a girl with short pink hair and purple eyes. She wore a blue shirt and a pink skirt that went just past the knees. However, the feature that drew the most attention was a large third eye that was attached her by cords. It constantly moved about, focusing on both Orin and Utsuho.

"Rin, come with me to courtyard. Utsuho, take the control rod and activate battle mode, then meet me in the same place. Rin and I will try to delay them as long as we can."

* * *

><p>Kyreth slowly approached the unconscious oni, she too was breathing heavily. Despite how she boasted, fighting three consecutive battles while being cut off from the dark energy of the Abyss had drained her considerably, and she doubted she would be able to use her full power were there to be another battle. Even now, she doubted the had the strength to finish off her opponent.<p>

"However…" She gestured and the scroll she had been given appeared. She flew out over the city, heading towards the position she had been instructed. She found Flandre just as she blasted a hole through the collapsed tunnel, destroying the rubble. She had decided against seeking out Kyreth and wanted to pursue Orin further.

"Kyreth! Help me find the kitty!" Flan said.

"Sure, let's hurry and get this over with." Kyreth said.

* * *

><p>Utsuho dove down into the reactors control center. There she grabbed the pendant she wore, from which hung a red eye shaped gemstone. She said. "Control Rod Activate! Transform!"<p>

The gemstone glowed brightly and Utsuho's clothing began to change. A white shirt appeared along with a green skirt. Concrete encased her right foot and two large electrons orbited around her left. Over her right arm appeared the control rod. Just above her large breasts appeared the red and black eye of the Yatagarasu. A cape appeared over her black wings. Its outside was white though the inside had an image of stars and galaxies, which constantly moved.

"Transformation Complete!"

Utsuho looked around, confused. "Wait… what was I doing again? Miss Satori! What was- Oh yeah!" She heard an explosion from above, along with screams. "Orin! Miss Satori!"

Utsuho flew out of the pit to find her best friend and master lying on the ground, wounded. A black aura was slowly fading from where they were lying. Her transformation had taken too long.

She turned to their assailants, to see Flandre and Kyreth laughing. "You! You!" Utsuho couldn't find the words to express the anger she felt. She lifted the cannon on her right hand and gripped it with her left. She shouted. "Explosion Sign! '_Nuclear Fusion!_'"

Both Flandre and Kyreth leaped out of the way of the blast of energy. The explosion incinerated the bridge. Utsuho kept firing, hurling more and more energy at her opponents. However, her assault did not last long. As she prepared to fire more shots the Kyreth took the opportunity to cast a spell. Utsuho didn't have time to react as some sort of grayish energy surrounded her, and she cried out in agony.

The true nature of the spell, however, manifested when Utsuho's mind became gripped in fear. What chance did she have against something like this? For all her so-called power, she was just a lowly raven. Her heart raced as she looked around for an escape. Then something else struck her in the back and she felt pain as was sent flying wildly. She turned to see Flandre, blood dripping off the tip of her spear. She couldn't win!

She flew down, picked up the unconscious forms of Orin and Satori, and flew towards another tunnel. She found that the tunnel went straight for the surface. She emerged near a large lake, and looked around. She saw a tall manor and in the mists of pain and fear, she thought it was the Palace of the Earth Spirits. As she flew, her eyes began to blur. The wound was deep and sure was bleeding a lot. She started feeling light headed. She could not focus and began to fall.

* * *

><p>Hong Meiling liked sleep. She had determined that most people spent more time sleeping than doing anything else and so she decided she might as well be good at it. Thus, she spent a good amount of her time practicing the fine art of sleep. However unfortunately, much of this "practicing" was done when she was on duty as the gate guard of Scarlet Devil Mansion. Despite her superior's complaints, she had occasionally voiced the opinion that it didn't really matter as rarely did anyone come to the manor. This usually earned her knives impaled in various parts of the body.<p>

The only regular visitor was that witch and she always snuck in through the few windows the manor had. However if the news was right then that would not be a problem anymore. She had refrained from speaking this aloud though.

However this night Meiling was wide awake and keeping a sharp eye out. She was assisted in her duty by several other youkai servants. Remilia and Sakuya had returned near sunrise, exhausted. They had told Patchouli and Meiling what had happened and Remilia had ordered for security to be increased.

Meiling would have done so anyways, after the shame of being beaten by that strange black haired girl so easily. And now both Flandre and Koakuma were missing. If she had only been more alert…

"The same thing would have happened." Said a voice.

Meiling turned see one of the other guards, Yura.

"What do you mean?"

"I can guess what your likely thinking." She said, "It's no use beating yourself up over it. If these people have the kind of power the mistress described then the same thing would have happened were you more alert or not."

Her friend spoke the truth... however, Meiling did not like it.

"What is that?" asked another guard.

Meiling and Yura both looked up to see someone struggling to stay aloft. She faltered and fell to the ground near the gate. Meiling rushed over to her to see that there were three of them, Satori, and her two pets, wounded. Utsuho was the worst of all, her back was almost completely cut open, and it was a miracle she was still alive at all. "What do we do?" Yura asked.

Meiling turned to her. "Get Patchouli! Quick!"

* * *

><p>Kyreth stood in the courtyard of the Palace of the Earth Spirits. She was looking down the pit that led to the former Hell of Blazing Fires.<p>

"The deepest point in Gensokyo…" She smiled. Kyreth gestured and the scroll she had been given appeared once again. She tossed it into the air and it changed form, becoming a black orb. The orb seemed to draw the shadows in the area into it, causing them to twist and writhe.

"What's that for?" Flandre asked.

"Do you want to meet those friends I told you about earlier?"

"Yeah!" Flandre answered excitedly.

"Then stand back." Kyreth ordered. Once Flandre was out of the way, Kyreth tossed the orb down into the pit. Almost instantly, the fire transformed, becoming green in color. Massive tendrils of darkness emerged from the pit. They shot into the walls of the cavern, and the earth trembled and shook, dislodging several stalactites. Kyreth began speaking in a language that Flandre couldn't understand. Every so often, her voice would rise and the ground would shake in response. Windows began breaking in the palace and more rocks fell.

Flandre, for the first time since she had left the Scarlet Devil Mansion, for perhaps the first time in centuries, felt fear. She couldn't understand what Kyreth was saying, but the words seemed to crush her spirits the longer she listened. The shadows around the roomed lengthened and shifted like some dancing demon. Her mind filled with strange images of destruction and violence. A strange deep laughter echoed across the cavern, growing louder and louder with each word Kyreth spoke until it was almost deafening. Then more things began to emerge from the pit, they were shadow figures, hissing and screeching as they scattered, passing through the walls of the cavern. Where each shadow struck, a strange glowing symbol would appear on the walls. The words became louder and louder until it was the only thing Flandre could hear. She screamed and screamed and…

As soon as it started, it was over. The shaking stopped and the deafening words went silent. Flandre opened her eyes to find that she was laying on the ground, curled into a ball. She stood up and reached for her Lævateinn.

She looked around and saw that the shadowy tendrils were gone. The fires returned to their normal color although the runes on the walls remained. Standing at the edge of the pit was Kyreth but she wasn't alone. Two other figures stood next to her.

One had green hair, done in pigtails like Kyreth's. She dressed similarly to Kyreth, although she had no wings, and her tail was very long, and it wrapped around her waist like a belt. She had yellow eyes and two swords were sheathed at her side.

The second figure had short curly blonde hair and red eyes. She wore a black dress that ended at the knees and carried black quarterstaff with magic runes inscribed in silver all over it. She had dark red bat wings that resembled Remilia's.

Carefully, Flandre approached them, gripping the Lævateinn. They appeared to be in conversation with Kyreth. She spoke up. "Kyreth, who are they?"

"What's with the brat?" The blonde-haired girl said.

"Oh! I was just getting to that, Zeri!" Kyreth turned to Flandre. "Flandre, this is Ayon and Zeristine." She said pointing at the green-haired girl and the blonde respectively.

Flandre lightened up, the previous events seemed like some sort of dream. _Yes just a dream_. Flan thought. She smiled, placing that fearful event in the back of her mind and focusing on the now. Kyreth was a friend, she had let her go outside, and had let her play her favorite games! She was meeting even more people now!

"Miss Flandre has some... interesting powers! And she's a vampire, like you Zeri!"

"Another vampire?" Flandre jumped up in excitement and rushed over to the other vampire. "We can be friends! We can play with dolls and eat cake and drink juice and…"

"Gah! Why does it have to be a kid? I hate kids!" Zeri said. However, Flandre appeared not to hear her as she leaped onto Zeri in an embrace. Zeri stumbled back almost falling back into the pit. She tried to peel the excited little vampire off her but was unsuccessful. "Let go! Let go, damnit!"

"And it looks like the both of you are getting along so well!"

Kyreth pointed to the Palace, which aside from a few broken windows and cracked stones, was still standing. "We can stay in that castle for the time being." She turned to Flandre. "It's been a long while, and it's almost sunrise. You should get some sleep, Flan-dear."

"Bedtime? Aww…" Flandre frowned.

"You can have first pick on rooms!"

"Hooray!" Flandre headed into the empty manor, dragging a protesting Zeristine behind her. "We can share a room and have a slumber party!"

"I said let go!"

Meanwhile Kyreth headed back over to the pit. It was now completely dark, not even a vampire's sight would be able to penetrate it.

"What will you do now?" Ayon asked.

Kyreth made a gesture with her hands and black circles appeared all over the courtyard. She felt stronger now, as the Abyss filled her with energy. "I'm going to have some fun with the underground city…"

* * *

><p><em>Now things are getting interesting. I kind of based the fight between Kyreth and Yuugi on some of the fight scenes from Dragon Ball Z, if you can't already tell.<em>

_As to the other youkai in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I just have the opinion that Sakuya and China aren't the only servants that Remilia has. Surely, it would take a lot more than one maid (even with timehax) to keep the place running, and never mind the fairies that are more or less incompetent._

_I want to give a shout-out to other Touhou fanfics that I like. For one there's Touhou Ibunshu: Retelling of Oriental Stories by UsuallyDead (Google [or whatever search engine you use] it). I'm not going to describe it here, but you should really take a look! The other story is Imperfect Metamorphosis by TakerFoxx. A great read!_

_Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm already working on the next chapter and will have it up as soon as I can! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! OR ELSE! Just kidding! ... Or am I?_

_~ Dragonexx_


	9. Visitation: A Tale of Two Shrines

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter _⑨_

Visitation – A Tale of Two Shrines

* * *

><p>A man with black hair and gray skin headed up the path to shrine. Though he could have flown, or simply transported himself to the top with a thought, he preferred to walk, taking in the sights of the road. The path was surrounded on both sides by trees, and the branches grew over the path, providing shade during the daytime. Flowers bloomed along the side, filling the air with the various scents.<p>

Glowing lights could be seen flitting about between the trees. These were fairies, who made their homes in treetops. The scenery was beautiful, but in that wild, fey, sense. It reminded him of when he had spent that time in Arborea, a place far from the stately beauty of Mount Celestia.

As he came closer to the shrine, the dirt road became stone, and a staircase led to the grounds of the shrine. The gray man stopped at the base of the stairs and pulled out the pocket watch he had taken from the maid. He had already determined that the device's powers only worked for her, but it still made for a useful timepiece.

He looked around at the flowers mournfully, he would have loved to observe them more, but he had a duty to do. He sighed and walked past the shrine gate and cross the courtyard. He noticed that the yard had not been swept, and as he passed the donation box, his contribution still sat untouched. He looked up at the sky, where it was starting to rain.

Calmly, the gray man stepped up to the door and knocked.

* * *

><p>Reimu hadn't moved from her bedroom since last night. The village doctor had put her broken arm in a cast and sling, so it could heal. After the events in the human village, she had numbly flown back to the shrine. The only action she had taken was to change out of her dirty clothes. The bloodstained outfit still sat in the basket with the rest of the laundry. Upon arriving at the human village and hearing the news, Sanae had elected to stay with Reimu. Both She and Suika had tried to cheer Reimu up but the shrine maiden was had not spoken a word.<p>

The inside of the shrine was fairly simple. It had a single floor, consisting of simply a kitchen, a washroom, a living room, and a bedroom. There was a shed out back where tools were kept and other items were stored. There wasn't much furniture, although the one thing that had stood out was the refrigerator in the kitchen. This had been a gift from Yukari (although how it worked without electricity was a mystery). The fridge was currently empty save for a few odd vegetables, as it usually was. Reimu had neglected to go shopping.

Sanae was currently sitting in the living room of the shrine. Despite having gone two days without sleep, she wasn't tired, but instead kept awake with worry. While on a social and religious sense, Reimu was her rival, personally she had always considered the shrine maiden a friend.

She was surprised to hear a knock at the door. Reimu didn't move from her room so Sanae elected to answer it herself.

"Greetings. Lovely night isn't it?" Said a gray skinned man.

"You're-!" Sanae said.

"Ah, it appears my reputation has spread quickly. If I am correct, then you are the priestess of the Moriya shrine, in the upper area of Youkai Mountain? A priestess of the goddess Kanako Yasaka?" The gray man looked up at the sky. The rain had quickly become a downpour. "May I come in?"

"You burn cities and slaughter innocent people and you expect me to-"

"My thanks." Interrupted the gray man. He stepped into the house and past Sanae.

"If you lay even one finger on Reimu…" The wind began to swirl around her.

"Be at ease, child. I mean you no harm." The gray man said, and then there was a brief burst of steam as his clothing instantly dried. "Now where is the Hakurei shrine maiden… ah there…"

The gray man stepped forwards and instantly he was by the door to Reimu's room.

* * *

><p>Reimu lay in her futon, as she had since she had first returned. She hadn't cried, or shown any sort of emotion the entire day. She heard something outside, was someone coming to visit?<p>

_What matter is it? _Reimu thought to herself._ Marisa's dead, by those monsters, Keine's dead, by my own hand._

The visitor was now standing outside her door. First that drunkard Suika, and then that annoying Sanae! Why couldn't they just leave her the hell alone?

Who was it this time? Remilia? Alice? Yukari? It didn't matter, she just wanted to be left alone! Reimu stood up and was about to tell them where they could stick their condolences when the door slid open.

Emotion flared up for the first time since last night upon seeing the gray man.

"You!" Reimu shouted. She flicked her wrist and ofuda appeared. She lifted her hand, and was prepared to strike with them at close range. Never mind that she might be caught in the explosion. Never mind what that could mean for Gensokyo, she wanted this bastard dead!

"As I said before, I do not come to bring conflict." The gray man caught her arm with inhuman speed. "I simply want to talk under the banner of truce."

"If you think I would discuss thing with you after what you did, then you must be insane!"

"Splendid." The gray man smiled, as if Reimu had said something completely different. He clapped his hands together and both Reimu and Sanae's vision faded to white. When she could see again she found herself sitting on a comfortable couch, next to Sanae and Suika.

They were in Reimu's living room and the furniture had all been replaced. The kotatsu had become a wooden table and the couches were of black leather. Strangely carved lamps hung from the walls and a glass chandelier hung from the ceiling. A bowl of strange fruit, unlike any Reimu had seen sat on the table. The gray man selected a round piece, made of green and orange stripes, and bit into it, apparently savoring the flavor.

"Reimu -hic- what's going on?" Suika said, drunkenly as always.

"What have you done with my shrine?" Reimu demanded.

"Don't be so upset, I merely made it more comfortable for all of us. If we're going to discuss matters we might as well do it in a pleasant environment. Speaking of which…"

The gray man made a gesture with his hands, and a white light enveloped Reimu's broken arm. The cast and sling disappeared, and the dull pain vanished. Reimu moved her arm about without any problem, the broken limb had been healed.

"Whoa! How -hic- did you do that." Suika said.

The gray man didn't answer. "I take it you don't like me very much."

"Wow, really?" Reimu said sarcastically. "Whatever would give you that idea? Certainly not the burning down of a village, or the death of…" Reimu trailed off, as she remembered the previous nights events.

"As I thought. Well perhaps all that can be changed."

"What are you talking about?" Sanae asked, suspicious.

"I'm rather glad that the both of you are here, as it save's me the trouble of visiting two shrine maidens individually. First, Reimu Hakurei. Correct me if I am wrong, but the Hakurei Shrine has no patron deity, am I right?"

"What's it to you?"

"I have an offer for you." The gray man gestured, and a strange object appeared in his hand. It was a human skull, albeit made entirely of gold. He set the skull on the table and then spoke. "This offer extends to miss Kotiya as well. You are already devoted to the Goddesses Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya, but what do you say to a conversion to the service of the lower planes?

"Service?"

"I am offering you a chance to join the winning team. And I assure you, we _will_ succeed."

"What are you planning?"

"The goal is simple, at least in the short term. We seek to bring Gensokyo, the so-called Land of Illusion under our control. We wish to establish order over this chaotic and wild land. And it would certainly help the effort to have it's resident shrine maiden on our side. I can assure you great reward for your aid, certainly a position of power in the new Gensokyo. So do we have a deal?"

Reimu immediately stood up and slammed her hands against the table. "I don't care what the hell you're offering. There is no way I'm joining with the likes of people like you!"

She flicked her wrists and ofuda appeared in her hands.

"Now now, Reimu. Let's not be hasty. If you won't be so inclined then perhaps the other shrine will be-"

The gray man's eyes flashed for a moment before he frowned. "Well that's interesting."

"What are you talking about now?" Reimu asked.

"It appears there are intruders in the Moriya Shrine, interesting intruders. And what is she doing here, of all places?"

"What?" Sanae asked.

"If you will excuse me. There are more pressing matters to attend to." He gestured at the skull. "It's yours now."

"Wait I-"

There was a flash and the gray man was gone.

* * *

><p>Sanae flew across the nighttime skies of Gensokyo. She flew alone. Shortly after the gray man had left, Reimu had sank back into her depressive funk.<p>

It didn't matter to Sanae however. If there was a threat to the Moriya Shrine, it was her duty to stop it. She was flying above the forest of magic, and happened to look to the side. She did a double take when she saw something strange flying towards her.

At first she thought the winged figure was a the gray man, however, as it drew closer she could see it was taller and less human in appearance. It's body was covered in feathers and it's head was that of a vultures. Its wings were on its back and it had long razor sharp claws. The bird monster gave out a piercing screech. A shockwave of energy shot out from its mouth and struck Sanae.

Sanae screamed as the horrible sound overwhelmed her. She began to feel dizzy and her vision blurred and spun. Sanae fell out of the air and straight down towards the forest of magic. She hit the branch of a tree and went spinning towards the ground, hitting with a crash. She lay still, knocked unconscious, as more of the bird demons crawled out of the trees and down towards her.

* * *

><p>In stark contrast to the quietness of the Hakurei shrine, the Moriya shrine was in the middle of a pitched battle. Bright lights flared up as blasts of energy went in all directions.<p>

Cirno and her gang had arrived at the Moriya shrine ready to do battle with the dreaded terrorvision. They had quite predictably found no monster, no matter how much they searched the area. They had knocked over shelves and opened all the doors, and even smashed a hole in the glass side of some strange black box and yet they had found nothing.

Disappointment had soon turned to anger, and the five of them began arguing, the argument had turned into a spell card battle, and now the free-for-all raged across the shrine.

Standing at the entrance and watching the battle were two figures. One was an insectoid creature like the one that had attacked the human village, and the other was one of the bone devils. The two of them had been sent to the Moriya Shrine and prepare the way for their master, but upon observing the melee, were confused on what to do next.

There was a burst of smoke behind them, and the two of them turned to see the gray man appear. He coughed and then spoke. "Okay, thats the last time I try that method of teleporting, I don't get whats so appealing about it. A straight astral jump is far more cleaner, or if your going to use smoke, at least turn your body into it..."

"My leige" The two devils bowed to their master.

"Ah... you've arrived already." the gray man said. He turned to the battle and calmly stepped into the middle of the firing. Immediately Cirno and her gang stopped their battle, and Wriggle shouted for him to get the hell out of the way.

The gray man looked about, and his gaze locked on Rumia.

"Ah, to find you here of all places. And I thought there would be enough surprises in this land."

"Who the hell are you?"

"You don't recognize me? Is it the hair? I have been wearing it in a different style for the last few centuries." The gray man's black hair became longer. "Do you recognize me now?"

"Do you know this weirdo?" Cirno asked.

"No! I don't!"

The gray man's hair reverted to it's previous style, and he looked at the ribbon on her head. "Ah. that must be why. To think you've gotten yourself sealed away and ended up here. I could undo it, but it would take much, much more time than I have. A pity. At least take this."

The gray man produced another golden skull from his pocket and handed it to Rumia. "Perhaps being exposed to the lower planes would help jog your memory."

"The lower what?"

He left Rumia and headed towards the door of the Moriya shrine. Cirno and the others crowded around Rumia to get a look at the skull. At that moment, a black circle appeared beneath them. Tendrils of darkness grabbed each of them and pulled them down into it, leaving no trace of them behind.

* * *

><p>"Make sure nobody disturbs me. Kyreth has completed her part of the ritual beneath the mountain.<p>

The gray man reached the door and headed for the shrines altar. He pulled one last golden skull from his pocket and cleared everything else from the altar. He then placed the skull on the altar and knelt down in front of it.

"The time is right, and the land has been prepared. Let the summoning begin."

* * *

><p><em>Okay I edited this chapter a lot, but it still doesn't feel right...<br>_

_If you have any honest opinions on how to improve this chapter, by all means tell me. Please.  
><em>

_~Dragonexx_


	10. Visitation: Appirations Stalk the Night

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 10

Visitation – Apparitions Stalk the Night

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><p>The Forest of Magic certainly lived up to its name. Despite the forest fire that had raged through it the previous night, the trees and leaves had regrown by midday. Gensokyo was a magically abundant land, and it was especially concentrated in the forest. The plants fed off this energy as much as they did the sun, the soil, or the water. The fairies of the forest had already returned, much to its other resident's annoyance.<p>

Although the vegetation of the forest could regrow quickly, the buildings built within this land could not. Most of the forests magicians had cast spells protecting their homes from the fire; however, there was one house, which unfortunately did not survive the blaze.

The home of the infamous witch Marisa Kirisame was in ruins. Only one wall was standing, and it looked like it might collapse any minute. Rubble lay strewn about where a proud (if not necessarily clean) house once stood.

However, the house was not devoid of occupants. A group of strange beings hung about the place. A table made of a strange black stone sat in the middle of a circle cleared of wreckage. Sitting at the table was a small woman with long silver hair, shot through with streaks of purple. She sat at the only chair, relaxing. In her hand, she held a glass of wine from which she sipped. She looked up at the sky which completely obscured by dark clouds.

"It looks like rain…" One of the others said. This creature had a gargoyle-like appearance, with black scaly flesh and small wings on its back. It had a tail that ended in a stinger point. Another one of the creatures, called abishai, held in its hand a wine bottle. When Kanna finished her glass. She placed it back on the table. The abishai refilled her glass with the dark red liquid.

Raindrops began falling from the sky. Kanna made an idle gesture with her free hand, and even when the rain became a downpour, not a single drop touched anything in the remains of the house.

After a while Kanna looked around impatiently. "Where is that imp, it should have been back here at least half an hour ago."

"Perhaps it's been delayed due to the rain, milady."

"Perhaps…"

Something moving appeared in the rain. Kanna stood up ready to receive her report, when she saw that it was only a group of fairies. The little creatures were too dumb to realize the danger they were in. In their eyes, they only saw a group of strangers they could have some fun with.

Kanna turned to the abishai and said, "They're all yours."

The abishai smiled and leaped to action. Before the fairies could react, the closest of them was pulled from the air and torn apart. The others tried to flee but the rest of the abishai leaped up and caught them.

Kanna watched in amusement as the fairies were destroyed, screaming all the while. She heard the sound of wings flapping and looked up. Flying towards the burnt out house were four beings. They landed in the middle and looked mildly surprised to find the place untouched by the rain. The one in the lead was covered in dark scales, and had large horns coming out of its head. It stood almost twice as tall as Kanna and its face was set in an almost permanent scowl. Large fangs curved out from its mouth. Two of the bluish insectoid creatures, called gelugons, flanked the scaled being, called a cornugron. However, it was the fourth being that Kanna was most interested in.

The gelugons stood at attention, while the cornugron bowed. "Lady Kanna" It said in a raspy voice. "We have brought the girl, as you requested."

The fourth guest was a girl with long silver hair, and red eyes. She wore a simple white shirt and red pants with suspenders. Her pants were covered in talismans and they were tied through her hair as bows. She had a disinterested expression, and her hands were in her pockets. A cigarette was in her mouth. She looked around at the wreckage, ignoring her host and obviously making an effort to be rude.

Kanna smiled, and set her glass on the table. "Fujiwara no Mokou, I presume? The name's Kanna, pleased to meet you at last. I take it you've gotten my message?"

"I have."

Kanna gestured at the table and a variety of dishes appeared on it. "It must have been a long flight from the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. You must be hungry Miss Fujiwara."

"Just Mokou is fine. And I ain't gonna waste any more time around you freaks then I have to."

"I would think someone who couldn't die would be more patient, but I suppose it is of no matter." Kanna selected an apple from the table and bit into it. She winced at the taste. "Ugh… bad apple…" She tossed it aside, making a mental note to work on her food conjuring skills once she got home. When the apple hit the ground, it dissolved into a cloud of smoke.

"Your proposal was for an alliance between us?"

"Yes. However, you do not look like the kind of person who does work for free. I'm planning-"

"Listen, I don't care what the hell you're planning for Gensokyo. All I want is to see that bitch Reimu dead! I'll make her pay for murdering Keine!"

"Oh… I thought we might have some problems with that." Kanna said. "You are aware of what would happen were Reimu to die without producing an heir?"

"I don't give a damn."

"Well we rather do. We do need the Hakurei shrine maiden alive for my plans to succeed."

Immediately, a massive inferno surrounded Mokou. The abishai scattered while the cornugron and gelugons moved in front of Kanna to protect her.

"If you're not gonna help then you're wastin' my time!" Mokou shouted.

"Whoa, calm down there. I never said this was for nothing. I have an even better offer for you." Kanna smiled. "What would you say if I could bring back your beloved Keine?"

The flames around Mokou died down. "What? You could…"

"As you said, you're not a patient person, so I'm going to cut to the chase, you help us complete our objectives, and then I will bring back your beloved Keine Kamishirasawa." Kanna held out her hand and smiled.

"Are you serious?" Mokou asked.

"Despite what most people believe, death is not an absolute fact of existence. You yourself are evidence of that. Whether through immortality or resurrection, it's quite possible to cheat death. For a person of my powers, bringing a soul back from the dead is a simple matter."

Kanna gestured, and the corpse of a nearby bird levitated and landed on the table. She placed her hand over the body and there was a brief glow. The bird suddenly stood up, and after looking around confused for a second, flew off.

"So... do we have a deal?" Kanna held out her hand.

Mokou hesitated for a moment before she gripped Kanna's hand. "We have a deal." She said, rather unsure. Were Mokou able to see better in the darkness, she would have noticed a small inscription appearing on the palm of her hand. Before she was even aware of it however, the ink sank into the skin and was gone. "What do you need done?"

"As a matter of fact, nothing at the moment. For now return to your home, I'll call upon you when your services are required."

Without another word, Mokou took off.

* * *

><p>Kanna sat back down in her chair. The feast on the table disappeared into smoke and once again, the only objects were the wineglass and bottle. The other devils looked at the empty table forlornly, which Kanna ignored.<p>

She was about to bring the wineglass to her lips when she heard the sound of leathery wings flapping. A small creature emerged from the rain and approached Kanna. This creature was about the size of a fairy although it had red skin and bat wings. Tiny horns poked out from its head, and when it opened its mouth, a series of jagged teeth were shown. It gave off the faint scent of something burning.

The imp landed on the table and bowed to Kanna.

"You're late." Kanna said.

"Forgive me, milady." The imp said nervously. "It is difficult enough to find one's way around in this strange land, a difficulty compounded by the heavy rainfall and the-"

"Yes yes, get on with it." Kanna said.

The imp bowed once again and then delivered its report.

* * *

><p>Marisa awoke to find someone leaning over her. Her vision was blurry, but she could tell that they were female, with short blond hair.<p>

"Al-Alice?" Marisa said weakly.

Alice gave a small shriek of surprise and hastily stepped back, tripping and falling over in the process. She quickly stood back up and dusted off her blue dress.

Marisa tried to sit up but winced in pain as she did so. She looked down to see that she was wearing only her bloomers. Her upper body was wrapped in bandages however.

"No. You shouldn't be moving." Alice said. She placed her hands on Marisa's shoulder and gently lay her back down on the bed. "After the fire, I found you in the forest. You were in pretty bad shape. I'm not that skilled in healing magic but I did the best I could. The rest will have to heal naturally."

"W-what happened?" It was a struggle to even speak.

Alice gestured and one of her dolls pulled up a chair. "What do you remember?"

"I was working on a new spell when I looked out the window and saw two youkai in front of my house. I stepped outside and tried to chase them off. That's the last thing I remember before now… What happened?"

"Reimu came looking for you along with Remilia, her maid and those two dragons. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I think that Reimu fought off those two strange youkai."

"Reimu…" Marisa frowned.

"Is something wrong?" Alice asked.

"No." Marisa changed the subject. "You know, it's rather lucky that I was found by you."

"Lucky? Well I..."

"If there's anyone I would trust to take care of me it would be you! I wouldn't want to end up in some creepy stalkers house, now would I?" Marisa said, laughing, although it hurt to do so.

Alice blushed a deep red, and stuttered.

"What's wrong?" Marisa asked.

"Uh... er… You should probably rest now, its best not to be moving." Alice stepped backwards towards the open door.

"Hey watch out! You're gonna-"

However, it was too late. Grasping for the handle of the door that was already open she fell backwards down the staircase.

"-fall" Marisa finished.

"Don't worry. I'm okay." She heard Alice shout.

Marisa laughed to herself again, it hurt, but laughter was the best medicine, wasn't it?

* * *

><p>A shadowy fog crept about the Forest of Magic. It weaved its way through trees, and around rocks. It stopped just outside Alice's house, and for a moment took on a humanoid shape. The figure walked over to the window to see Alice sitting at her workbench, focused on one of her dolls. The humanoid shaped cloud then floated up to the second story, where it looked to see Marisa sleeping on a bed.<p>

The shadow fog passed through the window, entering through miniscule holes, after which it reformed. It hovered for a moment over the witch before sinking to engulf her.

* * *

><p>Marisa was flying, and she had no idea how she had gotten there. She was riding on her broomstick and wearing her normal clothes, a black witch's hat and black clothes and a white apron. Her previous injuries were gone.<p>

She reached into one of her many pockets to feel the hakkero inside it, along with plenty of other things such a spell cards, potions and a few other things of which she wasn't sure exactly what they did.

Marisa looked around, trying to figure out where she was. The landscape looked like nothing she had seen in Gensokyo. The land had a scorched appearance, and vast portions of it had been dug up in what appeared to be mines, and quarries. There might once have been forests, but the trees had long since been cut down to fuel whatever gluttonous industry dominated this land.

The air was hot and dry, and thick clouds of smoke obscured the sky. What land wasn't scorched, or dug up was covered in soot and ash. The air stank like something burning.

As she flew onwards, the mines and quarries became replaced with factories and mills. The factories however lay in ruins, just like the rest of the area. Warehouses were collapsed, smokestacks crumbled and massive holes had been blasted into the walls.

Marisa flew yet onwards and lit up when she saw a city, however upon arriving closer, she saw that the place was just as collapsed and ruined as everything else she had seen. She decided to land anyways, hoping to find someone or something that could help her.

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Marisa called out. "Is anyone here?"<p>

There was no response from the building, just as the last ten. She stepped back outside and looked about. She would never voice it, but she felt fear that grew the longer she remained here. Strange things kept occurring. She would hear laughter echo from around a corner, and would rush there only to see nothing. Every so often, she would hear a scream, but she could not tell what direction it came from. Added to that was the constant scent of brimstone in the air. The entirety of the time she had been in this realm she had the feeling that something was burning in the distance, just out of sight.

Marisa headed down what appeared to be the main street. She looked up to see a large tower, overlooking the rest of the landscape. It leaned to the side and like the rest of the land was in ruins but it would be a good start.

As she made her way down the street, she had the feeling that someone was following her. She heard a raspy breathing behind her, and felt a hot breath on her neck. She swiftly turned, grasping her hakkero, but saw nobody.

She then heard the sound of massive footsteps, like some stomping giant, but turned back towards the tower to see nothing. She began walking faster, and gripped her broomstick with both hands. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement in an alleyway. Against her better judgment, she decided to see what it was. As soon as she rounded the corner, she saw again nothing. "Anyone there?" She called out, to no response.

She returned to the street to find it in ruins. Carts had been smashed, and entire walls of buildings had been knocked down. Now there were skeletons lying on the ground, partially buried in the dirt as if they had been there for ages.

She turned around to almost collide with something. She looked up to see a hideous creature. Its body was covered in spikes from head to toe, and its eyes glowed red. Marisa jumped back as the monster roared and swiped a claw at her. She looked around to see more monsters crawling out of the wreckage and leaping off the roofs.

She didn't waste any time. As the spiked creature charged again, Marisa sidestepped while forming a sphere of energy in her hand. She fired the blast at the creature before it could turn around and it was sent flying and landed in a heap several yards away.

The creatures began to swarm all around her. Marisa drew a spell card from the pocked of her apron and shouted. "Magic Sign! '_Stardust Reverie!_'"

A barrage of star shaped energy blasts burst forth from her hands to explode, engulfing a group of the monsters that was headed straight for her. More still approached. Marisa kept moving back, putting distance between her and the fiends. One of spiked monsters hands glowed for a second before beams of energy shot out. Marisa ducked the shots and returned fire. When more of them began shooting at her, she created a magical barrier before trying to fly away. She managed to get only few feet off the ground before the flying magic faded away and she crashed back to the ground.

"What the hell? I can't fly? What's going on?"

She heard a voice speak in her head. _Flying makes things far too easy, let's see you handle the hamatula without air power._

Marisa was surrounded on all sides by the so-called hamatula. "Not a problem!" She drew another spellcard and shouted. "Love Sign!_'Non-Directional Laser_!'"

She ducked down as lasers flew out in all directions, striking monsters and blasting holes in buildings. She saw an opening in the crowd and took it. She rushed past the confused fiends and took cover behind a pile of rubble, just in time to avoid the beams of energy they fired. She then cast one of her favorite spells. "Armillary! '_Orreries Universe!'_"

Four floating orbs appeared near her and began glowing. They fired into the horde of devils, with an impressive array of stars, lasers, and beams, creating a massive cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, the horde of fiends was scattered and fleeing.

_Not a bad show, however it was something Reimu could have done easily._

"What does Reimu have to do with this?" Marisa asked.

_Poor Marisa, always second best. Working herself to the bone to barely manage to keep up to a shrine maiden who barely taps into her power at all. A lazy shrine maiden who can perform amazing tasks without even trying. What were to happen if Reimu were to actually start taking more than a passing interest in her own powers? She would leave you behind in the dust, that's what. She'd completely forget about you._

"Are you kidding? Reimu and I are best friends!"

_Could have fooled me. From what I've observed, the relationship seems pretty one-sided. Tell me. Has she ever visited you even once in your own home? _

"Shut up! Whoever you are!"

_Answering like that merely proves that I'm right. Consider this, after the disaster in the forest; has she even bothered to look for you?_

"She…" Marisa for once had no response. She leaned back against the wall of a building.

_The reason is clear; she has decided that you're just getting in the way._

"Who the hell are you?" Marisa demanded.

_You don't remember me? _"That hurt's. Truly."

She could hear the voice with her own ears now. She looked up to see someone sitting on a rooftop. She had silver hair shot through with streaks of purple. She had purple bat wings and a tail and she wore a simple black robe.

"You!" Marisa shouted.

"Oh so you do remember me!" Kanna said, with a mocking smile. She disappeared and reappeared standing next to Marisa.

"What the hell do you want?" Marisa demanded. "And what the hell is this place?"

"How uncannily accurate. This place is the Maladomini seventh layer of the Nine Hells of Baator."

"Hell? I know I wasn't the most noble person in life, but…"

"You're not dead, you dolt! I merely brought you here to make a point."

"Well you better speak fast." Marisa reached for her hakkero and pointed it directly at Kanna. "I'm starting to lose my patience! Send me back to Gensokyo!"

Kanna continued speaking at her leisurely pace. She sat down in an armchair that appeared out of nowhere and leaned back. "Marisa Kirisame, the so called, ordinary black magician. The witch who works night and day just to keep up with everyone else. All her so called friends whose powers come naturally."

Kanna held out her hand and a glass of some clear green liquid appeared in her hand. She sipped from the glass and then set it down on a small table that appeared again out of nothing. "Take for example, you so called friend, Reimu Hakurei, Shrine Maiden of Paradise. One of the strongest beings in Gensokyo. Scion of the Hakurei clan, a long line of shrine maidens and priests whose ancestors had a hand in the creation of the Land of Illusion. Watcher of the border between Gensokyo and the outside world. Enforcer of the ancient spell card system, a powerful form of magic formed by her family and Yukari Yakumo to allow for non-lethal duels to solve conflicts. A being of critical importance, if she were to die, the border would collapse, and all the magic in Gensokyo would vanish.

Kanna sipped from her glass again. It might have been Marisa's imagination, but she thought she could hear a faint screaming sound from the glass.

"And here again, we have Marisa Kirisame, who has none of that. You're family disapproved of your practice of magic and so you ran away, hiding from them in the Forest. Your magic is a desperate attempt to make a name for yourself, even going so far as to become the apprentice of the evil spirit Mima. And how do people remember you?"

"Are you kidding? I'm one of the most famous people in Gensokyo!" Marisa boasted, though her voice wavered, and she sounded unsure of herself."

"Sure you are!" Kanna said. She sipped from the glass again and then spoke. "_Marisa Kirisame? She's just a runaway!"_

Marisa gasped. The voice was a perfect mimicry of her own fathers. Kanna didn't stop but moved on to mimic other people's voices. "_Marisa? She's just a common thief!_" "_Marisa? Doesn't she live with those weird mages in the Forest?" "Isn't she that witch friend of Reimu?" "I know who she is! I think she was that witch who went with Reimu to solve the Scarlet Mist Incident, right?" "That annoying book thief who claims to be only borrowing them. I want my spell books back."_

"Enough!" Marisa cried out. "Stop it! And I do have people who actually care about me."

"You see what I mean? Not the best impression you leave behind."

"Do people really say those things about me?" Marisa asked.

"Let's ask another question. What do you_ want _to be remembered as?"

"That's easy! The strongest witch in Gensokyo!"

Kanna burst out laughing. "This from a witch who's reached her limit!"

"What?" Marisa grew angry again.

"I've hit right on the mark, haven't I?" Kanna said. "You have no innate powers of your own. You get by with stealing spells from others. You could become a youkai magician, but then what would Reimu think? It's a pity. No wonder Mima left you. Must have been pretty dumb of her to choose you as an apprentice anyways."

Marisa shouted in rage. "Don't you _dare_ speak of Mima like that!"

She gripped the hakkero and shouted. "Love Sign! '_Master Spark!'"_

A massive beam of energy fired out from the Hakkero, tearing up the ground and demolishing a line of houses. When the light faded, there was nothing standing in front of her. She breathed a sigh of relief, only to feel something grip her ankle. She was suddenly yanked off her feet and fell face first to the ground. The hakkero fell to the ground and rolled away. She looked behind her to see Kanna rising up from beneath the ground, an amused smile on her face.

"Now we're getting somewhere! You want to prove your strength, child? Then let's see how you fare against a pit fiend!"

Kanna lifted both hands into the air and began speaking in a strange language that Marisa could not understand. A black circle appeared on the ground beneath Marisa. She hastily stood up and rushed out of it just as a pillar of flame shot up into the air. There was a loud roaring sound and a massive creature, nearly three times taller than Marisa emerged from the fire.

The pit fiend was covered in blood red scales, and it had large bat wings. It had massive claws, and a large spiked tail. Its head was gargoyle like and it had massive horns and razor sharp fangs. It roared again and charged straight at her, swinging a claw.

Marisa rolled to the side to avoid the attack and then let lose a ball of energy from her hand. The attack exploded against the monsters side. However, it had little effect.

The pit fiend formed fire in its hand and hurled the flames directly at Marisa. She hastily formed a magical shield, and the fireball exploded all around her. While the shield was up, Marisa reached into one of the pockets of her apron. When the flames cleared, she immediately hurled a magical grenade at the creature. The explosion made it stumble back, and Marisa reached for a spell card to press the attack. However, the pit fiend recovered quickly, hit her with a backhand blow, and sent Marisa flying into the wall of a building.

Fortunately, the magical shield absorbed the brunt of the impact, although it still left Marisa dazed. She looked up to see the fiend bring down both hands in an attempt to crush her. She rolled to the side only to be smacked by the creature's thick tail. Again, she was thankful for the shield. She flipped in mid-air and landed on her feet. From there, she unleashed a barrage of multicolored star shaped bullets that exploded on impact.

When the light faded, she saw the enemy still standing. It slammed its fist against the ground, and a geyser of black energy engulfed Marisa. She screamed in pain as the darkness passed through her shield and collapsed to her knees.

"You are going to have to try harder than that my little witch!" Kanna taunted.

The pit fiend closed with her and slashed with its claws. Marisa ducked underneath the attack and then leaped up to fire at the devil at close range. She pushed herself away, barely avoiding a bite and landed on the ground. From there she ran down the street, constantly firing shots at the enemy. Once the lights faded, the creature formed flame in its hand and hurled another fireball at her. She rolled to the side to avoid the attack and kept up the barrage of lasers and stars. She ran towards a pile of rubble and ducked for cover as a blast of dark energy shot over her head. From her position of cover, she fired more star shaped bullets. The fiend hurled a sphere of pure darkness that exploded and blasted the rubble away. However, Marisa was ready. She drew a spellcard and shouted "Magic Sign! '_Earthlight Ray!'_

Beams of energy burst from the ground underneath the pit fiend's feet, throwing up a cloud of dust and smoke. While the enemy recovered from the spell, Marisa looked around and found her hakkero. She picked up the magical furnace and held it forwards. As soon as the smoke began to clear and she could see her foe, she shouted. "Love Sign! '_Master Spark!'"_

Again, the beam of pure white energy blasted across the city, demolishing buildings and tearing a wide trench in the ground. As the spell ended, Marisa gasped. "There's no way!"

The pit fiend's wings had wrapped around its body, and a black aura surrounded it, protecting it from the blast. It unfurled its wings to their full length and then shouted a single word. A black shock wave fired out from its mouth, expanding in all directions. As soon as the shockwave passed through Marisa, she collapsed to her knees as her strength suddenly left her. The creature made motions with its claw as if it was writing in the air. Suddenly a barrier of runes surrounded the witch. She screamed as every nerve in her body was suddenly wracked with pain. The fiend slowly approached her, laughing. Marisa struggled to lift her hand. If Master Spark wouldn't work, there was only one thing left. She had once seen Mima use it, and though she had never tried it herself, she knew she had no choice.

She held the hakkero forwards and it glowed brighter than ever. The light became bigger and brighter and even her enemy slowed down. She struggled to speak through the pain and shouted as loud as she could.

"Magicannon! '_Twilight Spark!'"_

The light became brighter and brighter and the pit fiend put its hand in front of it in a desperate attempt to shield it's self. Marisa smiled as her victory was assured.

But then it all went horribly wrong. The hakkero suddenly cracked and began to shake uncontrollable. The cracks grew and deepened. Then the hakkero tore itself apart_. _There was a massive explosion and Marisa was sent flying backwards. Her magical shield was shattered and she smashed into a building.

She looked at herself. Her left hand had been blown off and her entire right forearm was missing. She was in agonizing pain as her entire body had been burnt. The pit fiend approached her and lifted its shadow-engulfed claws.

She heard Kanna's voice. "Yes. Just as I thought." Then the claws tore into her.

* * *

><p>Alice sat at her workbench, surrounded by dolls. Some floated around her, and handed her tools when she gestured. The workbench it's self was covered in doll parts, along with spare blocks of wood and pieces of cloth. The doll she was currently working served no purpose other than an appearance. On the other end of the table sat several other unfinished projects. As she worked on one of the delicate limbs, her fingers slipped and the dolls arm snapped in half. Angrily, Alice tossed the doll aside. She cleared a space, and then lay her head down on the worktable, and sighed.<p>

She couldn't focus on her craft as her mind was still thinking about Marisa. She made a few motions with her hands and one of the dolls spoke. "_Is something wrong, milady?"_

"It's nothing, Shanghai," Alice answered. She moved her fingers again, in intricate and specific patterns.

"_Are you sure? You look upset."_

"Trust me, it's nothing."

"_It certainly doesn't look like nothing." _Shanghai answered. "_Is it about Marisa?"_

Alice sighed again. "What business is it of yours?"

"_Isn't it the duty of a servant to ensure their mistress' well being?" _Shanghai asked.

"But…" Alice moved her other hand and another doll spoke.

"_She's right, you know. Besides, how long have we all known each other?"_

"I guess you're right, Hourai."

"_So what's the problem?" _They both asked.

"Pushy as always." Alice gave a slight smile. "Marisa, as usual. What does she really think of me?"

"_What do you mean? What happened?" _Hourai asked.

"You just want to hear so you can gossip with your friends. You almost as bad as that tengu reporter."

"_You know me too well, mistress." _Hourai said.

"Heh, but I'll tell you anyways, I guess I do need someone to talk to it about." Alice said. "Marisa and I are both friends, but I like her so much more than that. Do you think she loves me to? I want to ask her, but every time I try, the words get stuck in my mouth."

"_Why wouldn't she?" _Shanghai asked. "_You're charming, smart, caring…"_

"_Charismatic, funny, clever, beautiful…" _Hourai added.

Alice smiled. "You guys are-"

Alice was cut off by a knocking at the door. Shanghai and Hourai fell back onto the table, lifeless. Alice stood up from her workbench and looked over at the doorway.

"Who could that be at this time of night?" She stared at the door, and the person at the door knocked again. Alice gestured with her hands, and more dolls flew off the shelves, these dolls carried miniature lances and swords, while others had the scent of gunpowder. After the previous night's events, she wasn't going to be caught unarmed.

Alice carefully strode over to the door as the person knocked a third time. It was probably Reimu, no need to worry.

She opened the door and once she saw the guest, all her dolls fell to the ground, and Alice's mouth hung wide open in shock. "M-Mom?"

* * *

><p><em>Team Shanghai Alice. Now there's a pretty misleading name. It's not a team, it's one guy. It's from Japan, not Shanghai, and ZUN's name isn't Alice.<em>

_On another note, I apologize for the long time it took me to get this up. I was working on it when suddenly ninjas burst into my window. I killed a bunch of them but the survivors managed to steal my computer. They took off in a helicopter but I managed to grab on just before it left. I don't know for how long I hung on but soon a managed to get inside, there was a fight and the helicopter crashed. I managed to escape with my laptop just in time. I am now in the middle of some sort of desert. Surprisingly I still had internet connection, so I decided to finish my posting. Will search for civilization soon._

_Thanks for reading, please leave a review and tell me what think._

_~Dragonexx_


	11. Visitation: Innocence Lost

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 11

Visitation – Innocence Lost

* * *

><p>Daytime came again to Gensokyo. To its inhabitant's relief, no more attacks came, no more fiends crawling out of dark portals to slaughter and corrupt. The human village continued to mourn those they had lost, and continued to rebuild the homes and businesses that had been damaged in the fires.<p>

The tengu city worked on its own repairs as well. The newspapers and journals were already being produced on the previous events, and things seemed to be returning to near normal.

* * *

><p>The relative calm above stood in stark contrast to the underground city. The constant party had actually ceased and the city had become a warzone, as the youkai fought back against the strange creatures that had appeared. The demonic forces had emerged from the tunnel leading to the Palace of the Earth Spirits, and had immediately set upon the city.<p>

Ayon charged forwards through the city, leading the armies of the abyss through the streets. Danmaku shots rained down from all directions, and Ayon was forced to take cover. From there she spoke words in abyssal, the language of demons. More black circles appeared on the ground, and from them emerged more hideous monsters. These particular creatures were called manes. They appeared like short humans, albeit horribly bloated. Their skin was pale white, and covered in bleeding sores. Whenever they moved, something sloshed about inside of them, and they moaned in pain. Ayon pointed forwards with her sword and the manes rushed down the street to where the enemies were. They were no match for their opponents and were easily gunned down, but that was hardly the point. As they were defeated, their bodies exploded, spraying a horribly caustic acid over the enemy. There were screams, as the youkai backed away. Ayon directed more of them into buildings where people took shelter. She heard the sound of danmaku being fired and then screams as their targets exploded. She saw youkai running out of the houses as the acid ate away at their flesh and bone. Ayon laughed. Manes, the abyss' natural suicide bombers.

She then directed her forces forwards. The more powerful demons surged forwards, those built to actually fight in melee combat. The majority of the forces were tall goat headed creatures called buleazu. The buleazu charged forwards, and cut through the wounded enemies. Those that had managed to escape the acid fought back, though the strength of the buleazu overwhelmed all but the oni. Those, Mara dealt with herself, using her spells to injure or weaken them.

As the demons finished slaughtering all the opponents in that street, a green winged creature flew down from above. Mara held out her arm and the little creature, called a quasit, landed. It spoke to her rapidly, delivering its report. Mara frowned at the news.

Urban warfare was very different from normal open combat. Victory on one street might mean defeat on two others.

Mara had a better idea on how to deal with the problem. She spoke again in abyssal and a massive black circle appeared on the ground. A towering creature with a bison's head and cloven feet emerged from beneath her. The creature, called a goristro, stood as tall as a three story building. Its arms rippled with muscles, and its eyes were blood red. These creatures were rare in the Abyss, and kept as valuable living siege weapons.

Mara stood atop the fiend, and shouted orders in abyssal. The creature charged forwards, demolishing buildings and trampling enemies underfoot…

* * *

><p>"No way!" Flandre shouted. "You're lying!"<p>

"Am I now? What did you think was in that cake? Strawberries? And what were you drinking? Juice? Did you really believe that?" Zeri said. She lay back down on her bed. "Although, I am interested in where exactly the blood came from…"

"But… but…" Flandre started to cry.

"Face, it. You're a vampire, and vampires drink blood. Here, have some." Zeri reached into her pocket and pulled out a flask. She tossed it at Flandre, who caught it and stared at the thick red liquid.

This couldn't be true! Everything she ate, it came from hurting somebody? Zeri had to be lying! Kyreth would know the truth.

Flandre rushed out of the room carrying the flask. In the absence of its previous inhabitants, Chireiden had been taken over and turned into a house of demons. The fiends of the abyss now filled the palace. Flandre rushed past a trio of bird creatures and down a staircase. She passed by a duo of red skinned demons in a conversation with rat like creatures and down the hallway. She shortly came to what she thought was Kyreth's room. Instead, there was a creature with bat wings and a tail, what was it called? Kyreth had told her… a succubus? She was rolling around on the bed with some other demon, were they wrestling?

Flandre didn't concern herself with their games. She left the room and rushed down the main hallway and towards the throne room. The hallway was long and the fires of Former Hell outside lit the stained glass windows.

She found Kyreth sitting on the throne, discussing things with another fiend, this creature having a jackal head and wearing long flowing robes. When she saw Flandre running into the room crying, she gestured, and the jackal-fiend gave a slight bow and disappeared.

Kyreth walked over to Flan and knelt down beside her. "What's wrong, Flan-dear?"

"Zeri… Zeri…" Flandre tried to speak in between sobs. "Zeri told me that what I've been eating is… is blood!" She held out the flask.

Kyreth placed her hand on Flandre's head. "I don't want to lie to you, Flandre. So I'm going to say the truth." She took the flask from the vampire girls, trembling hand. "Vampire's do drink blood. But why are you so upset by the fact?"

"I have to hurt people like some kind of monster!"

"Flandre, let me tell you a few things. Having to drink the blood of another doesn't make you any sort of monster. It makes you strong!"

"Strong?"

"Flandre, it's the natural order of the world that creatures prey on one another. A vampire's power puts them near the top of that chain. Why would you oppose that? As a vampire, you're one of the most powerful creatures there is, not to mention your own given ability makes you even stronger than that."

"Really?" Flandre stopped crying as she thought about this fact. "Do you think Remilia knows about the blood?"

"Of course she does."

"Then why would she not tell me?" Flandre asked.

"Think about it. You know the reason." Kyreth said.

Flandre stopped to think. Despite her best effort, she couldn't come up with an idea.

Kyreth answered for her. "Then consider this. Do you know one of the best ways to control a society? You control the food. Remilia never told you about how vampires drink blood, because then she would lose her ability to control you. She puts just enough blood in your food to keep you alive, to limit your power. Limited to the point where a simple priestess and witch could best you.

"She wanted to control me?"

"Of course. Your power far exceeds hers, Remilia is obviously jealous of this."

Flandre didn't want to believe what Kyreth was saying, but it was starting to make sense. "That can't be true. Big sis loves me!"

"Love? Locking you away in the basement behind door, bar, and spell your entire life is a strange way to show love! Having her maid stop time when delivering you your 'cake' and 'juice' to minimize any outside contact is a strange way to show love! Hunting you down to destroy you is a strange way to show love!"

"Hunting me? Destroy me?"

"Ah! You didn't know, did you?"

"She wouldn't, she wouldn't…" Flandre protested weakly.

"Would she? Would you like to know something interesting? Her maid, Sakuya, has in her possession a silver knife, capable of bringing an end to even the most powerful of vampires. A knife given to her for the sole purpose of ending you, should Remilia lose her control over you. And don't even get me started on the spells that that librarian can use. It's clear she no longer wants anything to do with you."

Flandre began to shake. It looked like she was going to start crying again, but then the crystals on her wings glowed brighter and brighter, and her eyes blazed with rage. The entire castle began to shake. Flandre rarely felt anger. It was a new, strange emotion, and she let it flow through her. She embraced its blazing heat.

"She's been using me, all my life!" She shouted.

"That's right, Flan. To her, you're nothing more than a tool, a weapon. And when a weapon poses a threat to its wielder, what is done with it? It is cast aside, broken, destroyed. Remilia won't risk you escaping again; she'll merely kill you when she finds you. And even if she wasn't going to kill you, she'd put you right back where you were, in your little room in the basement. Answer this final question. After seeing all the things the world has to offer, would you be willing to return to your life as Remilia's prisoner?"

Flandre's answer was a shout of rage. She opened the flask and drained all the blood. She then tossed it aside, where it shattered against a wall. Flandre's crystals grew brighter and she lifted her hand. The black spear Lævateinn appeared in her hand, flames dancing along its length. "I'll destroy her!" She shouted, the words echoing through the entire palace.

* * *

><p>Patchouli Knowledge was surrounded by books. She sat at a table in the library pouring over texts, trying to find mention of the creatures that Remi and Sakuya had fought. So far she had found nothing. The creatures had referred to themselves as fiends, but they weren't any sort of fiend that Patchouli knew of. She had a while ago questioned Marisa, Reimu and (at great risk to Koakuma) Yuuka about their journey into the demonic realm of Makai. Nothing they said had applied to the creatures appearing now. She had wanted to go out and capture one of the creatures to study, but Remilia was adamant about keeping them away from the manor.<p>

She closed the book she was currently reading, and said. "This book tells me nothing, Koakuma could you-" She stopped short, realizing what she was saying. Koa was gone, without a trace.

"Is there anything you need?" Asked a voice behind her.

She turned to see one of the hell ravens standing behind her. After their flight from the underground, they had followed their mistress to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. They had integrated well with the rest of the servants, and were eager helpers.

"No, I'll shelf them myself." Patchouli said. She took off into the air while carrying several books. She flew past the many shelves. However, she sighed. Despite having spent most of her life inside Voile, she had always relied on Koakuma to shelf and find the books for her. She had no clue as to where most of the books went. She sighed, and prepared herself for a long night of most likely fruitless research.

* * *

><p>Sakuya was exhausted. Her duties as chief maid were many, and she relied extensively on her control over time to get them completed. As it was, she was finished for the day, but only barely. Sakuya was amazed at how little of a sense of time she had in spite, or perhaps because of, her control over it...<p>

"Utsuho! Do you want to eat our hosts out of house and home?"

"Awwwww… but Satori, I'm still hungry!"

_Well, almost finished. _She thought, noting the steadily increasing dishes piled up around the nuclear hell raven. In contrast to her pet, Satori had eaten very little, only finishing half of a plate.

"If you must, you can have the rest of mine." Satori pushed hers over towards Utsuho, who eagerly devoured it.

"And mine." Another guest at the table handed Utsuho her food. This girl had multicolored hair and she wore a black and white dress. Byakuren Hijiri had arrived at the manor, once the news that Satori and her pets had brought had spread.

"How does that girl manage to eat so much?" Satori wondered.

"Probably all goes to her boobs." Rin mused.

The door to the dining hall opened and Remilia walked in. Sakuya had known her mistress for many centuries, and could tell that although she appeared calm, she was deeply worried about her sister.

She sat down next to Sakuya and waited for Utsuho to finish her latest plates of food.

Surprisingly Satori was the first to speak up. "I would like to thank you for tending to our wounds, Lady Remilia. And for taking us in when we fled from the underground."

"It means nothing, you told me that you have information on my sister?"

"Flandre…" Satori sighed. "She is with those fiends."

Remilia was about to speak up when Satori answered for her. "It's not one of those two who you encountered in the forest. There is a third."

"A third?" Byakuren asked. "This isn't good."

"It's worse. I only managed to get a glimpse into her mind. But I can tell that she's far more volatile and dangerous then than the couple you previously encountered. She goes by the name of Kyreth, she was the one who ambushed China, and broke into Flandre's room."

"My sist-"

"You sister is not held against her will. She believes Kyreth to be a friend. A belief Kyreth is exploiting for all it's worth."

"Flandre…"

At that moment, a bat flew in through one of the vents; it landed on Remilia, and sank into her skin. She sighed.

"Patchy…" She began.

"Has found no further information on the creatures or their masters." Satori said.

"Yes that." Remilia said.

"Has Miss Knowledge had any trouble finding information before?" Byakuren asked.

"No she hasn't" Remilia answered. "What could this all mean?"

"I might have an explanation." Satori offered.

"What is it?"

"Perhaps Patchouli is unable to find anything, because Voile has no information on otherworldly things."

"Otherworldly?" Remilia asked. "What? Like the moon? Because I've been there, and I saw nothing of the like."

"No. I believe the term she means is extra dimensional." Byakuren said

"Extra dimensional hasn't been a problem before? There's plenty of information in Voile about Jigoku, Makai, and Hakugyokuro."

"Yes, that is true, but I think that merely proves my point. Those realms are different dimensions, true, but they are still connected to Gensokyo, just as Gensokyo is connected to the outside world. This allows these realms to interact and for their residents to cross between them, with, if not ease, then at least not extreme difficulty."

"Wait. So what you're saying is that they're-"

"From a realm, or number of realms that previously were unconnected to Gensokyo. I managed to glean this from Kyreth's mind." Satori finished.

What Satori had neglected to mention, was the extreme difficulty she had had in reaching this information. The demons mind had nearly overwhelmed her.

"So basically were fighting against an enemy we know next to nothing about from some weird other dimension..." Rin summarized.

"I wouldn't say no information."

"Sanae came by the human village while you were helping to rebuild, and she said that Vincent possibly knew something about these monsters." Satori said

"Yes and-"

"You have already sent Shou over to the Ash Mountains to see if there was anything that could be found out.

"Yes..." Remilia said, appearing slightly irritated. Satori smiled mischievously.

* * *

><p>A flock of bats flew over the gate, and across the yard. They entered through an air duct and came out in one of the hallways. They circled around for a bit waiting for the rest of the group to enter and then headed for the library. Nobody payed them any attention however, as the Scarlet Devil Mansion had bats everywhere. Who would notice a few more?<p>

* * *

><p>"Where are we Kyreth?" Flandre asked.<p>

They were surrounded by darkness so thick that even to Flandre's vampiric eyes, it was impenetrable. However the place felt comfortable in a way, like something welcoming to her.

"We're in Gensokyo's shadow. Each plane of existence has its own Shadow Plane. As to why we're here, it's the best seats in the house. Good view and close enough to the action so we can jump in if need be!"

Two thrones appeared, formed out of the darkness. Kyreth sat down in the larger of the thrones and directed Flandre towards the smaller.

"Seats? What are we watching?"

"You wanted to make your sister pay?" Kyreth asked. "Well we have quite the show planned! Do you want snacks? No? More for me!"

Two portals opened, showing demonic armies, standing and ready.

* * *

><p>"Triel... Triel... Ahriman... Triel... Triel... Triel... Dispater... Belial... Triel... Gah nothing!"<p>

"Well to be fair, we don't even know his name..." Hotaru said.

Vincent held up a book, and an air elemental picked it up and carried it off to it's proper shelf. The being was composed of swirling winds and clouds held in a humanoid shape. Other elementals hung about the library, cleaning, or awaiting orders.

"Gah!" Vincent shouted. "I've searched every book in this library on fallen angels, and every book on baatezu and nothing on that man!"

"Well at least we found a few mentions of Kanna." Hotaru offered.

"Nothing more than her name on a list of baatezu nobles, just as I suspected."

"We can still provide the rest of Gensokyo with information on the fiends."

Hotaru handed a book to an earth elemental, who placed in on a stack of books.

Shou walked over to Hotaru, with another book in her hands. She pointed to a page and Hotaru looked at it.

"Oh. Yes." Hotaru began to speak. "Those would be the barbazu, also more commonly known as bearded devils. They're the basic soldiers of the Nine Hells, and fortunately not that bright."

Hotaru turned the page, and pointed to a drawing of the skeletal creatures. "Those are called in their own language, osyluths. They're more like the elite guards and overseers. Their common name is bone devil, for obvious reasons.

"And this thing, the one that Keine was..." Shou stopped suddenly.

"It was a gelugon, or in our language an ice devil, and you can see why."

"So..."

There was a sudden crashing sound, and then the sound of one of the cave's tunnels collapsing. Vincent stood up immediately. "What was that?"

Miharu came rushing into the room, a panicked expression on her face. "Were under attack!"

* * *

><p>"What's' that out there?" One of the youkai guards asked.<p>

Meiling turned to where he was pointing and saw that at the edge of the lake, black circles were forming. _Just like what Remilia said. _Meiling thought.

She turned towards the youkai who had pointed it out and said. "Go warn the mistress! We'll hold them off for now!"

The guard flew off just as a demon came charging out of the portal. It had red skin and long sharp claws. Meiling flipped back from its attack. She retaliated with a punch, sending it flying backwards where it landed and disappeared into a cloud of darkness.

Meiling looked up to see more and more demons charging out of the portals. She thought quickly and shouted "Get behind the gates!"

They entered the front yard of the manor to have more room to maneuver and watched as the demons began to tear at the gates. The battle for the Scarlet Devil Mansion had begun.

* * *

><p>The cloud of bats entered Voile and then clustered together. Shortly after, Zeristine formed. She looked around the library, and smiled. "So this is the Voile, the magic library..."<p>

The place was far larger on the inside, and shelves and shelves of books stretched on endlessly. "Amazing." Zeri said.

She heard a coughing sound, and then someone walking towards her. "Remi? Is that you?"

Another person rounded the corner. She had long purple hair and wore robes that resembled pajamas. She held in her hand a book.

"Ah, you must be Patchouli Knowledge?" Zeri asked.

"Yes, I am. Who are you and what are you doing in my library?" Patchy asked.

"The name's Zeristine." She held out her hand and the black quarterstaff appeared in it. "The SDM is currently under siege; don't think you stand a chance of victory."

Patchouli opened her book and drew a card from its pages. She spoke calmly. "So you are with them." There was the hint of a smile on her lips. "I was hoping for a research subject, and it appears that fate sees fit to deliver one into my hand. Fire Sign! '_Agni Shine_!'"

A blast of flame arced from Patchouli's outstretched hand. Zeristine leaped into the air, clinging to the side of a shelf. From there she formed black fire in her hands and hurled it down at Patchy. The fire was easily dispersed, but as she did so, Zeri leapt towards Patchy and brought the quarterstaff down upon her.

* * *

><p>Both of the larger tunnels had been collapsed, leaving only the smaller tunnels open. Ayon pointed forwards and the first waves of demons surged forwards through the tunnels.<p>

Vincent rushed down the hallway, after ordering Miharu and Mara deeper in the caverns for safety. He came to the main hall and leaped down off the balcony in front of a group of goat headed demons. They immediately thrust their spears at him. Vincent ducked beneath the blow and rushed forwards. He hit one with an uppercut, sending it flying, before spinning and slicing another open with his claws. Both of them hit the ground and faded away.

Hotaru and Shou followed closely behind. Vincent turned to his sister. "Hurry! Go organize the youkai and elementals, and get them ready for battle! Shou come with me!"

The two of them were about to move forwards, when more demons charged into the room, closely followed by Ayon.

Shou immediately charged towards her, she leaped over the heads of other demons and brought her spear down on her. Ayon stepped aside and drew one of her swords. She slashed at Shou who intercepted the attack with her spear. She kicked Ayon in the chest, knocking her to the ground. Shou raised her spear to impale the demon, only for Ayon's tail to wrap around her leg and send Shou to the ground.

Vincent's claws glowed like hot metal as he slashed his way through the demons, searing flesh. He jumped over a swing of a gorilla like demon and exhaled a burst of flame landed where the demon once stood and punched the next fiend straight into the wall. He gestured with his hands and flames formed in his hands which he send swirling around him, incinerating the enemies in the room.

"Damnit!" Ayon shouted she quickly stood up and spread out her hands. More black circles appeared, and more demons sprung out.

* * *

><p>The fighting in the mansion had moved inside, as the defenders out front were again forced to fall back.<p>

Remilia, Byakuren, Meiling, Sakuya, Utsuho, Orin, and Satori had joined in the battle, to prevent the demons from getting any further into the mansion.

Sakuya rushed down the staircase, as a huge spider-like demon skittered towards her. It attempted to impale her with one of its eight legs, which Sakuya deflected with a swing of her knives. She slid under it and struck its underbelly, impaling a knife inside it. The monster screeched in pain, but wasn't finished yet. It leaped off the side of the staircase, and Sakuya followed it.

Bad move, the creature smacked her to the side and then attempted to impale her again. She rolled to the side, and threw a knife up, hitting it in the eye. It reared back and Sakuya used the opportunity to hurl more knives. However, the creature turned to the side, and the weapons bounced of its hard carapace. It then opened its mouth, and a blast of webbing shot out, sticking Sakuya to the floor. She quickly cut herself lose, but not fast enough. The spider demon lunged forwards and attempted to sink its likely poisonous fangs into her.

Again Sakuya ducked and struck upwards. This time she drove her knife even deeper into the spider's soft underbelly.

The creature roared in pain once more and fell to the side; it lay motionless for a few seconds before fading away. Sakuya was about to rejoin the battle, when she heard a shout.

"Atomic Fire! '_Nuclear Fusion!'_"

"Hit the deck!" Remilia shouted.

There was a blinding light and the sound of an explosion. Windows were shattered and doors were blown open. The demons were vaporized, but now there was a smoking crater in the middle of the front hall. Remilia and Sakuya's mouths hung wide open.

"Uh… Sorry…" Utsuho apologized.

"I think we should take our battle outside." Satori said. "Let's see if we can stop those portals…"

* * *

><p>The new fiends Ayon had summoned turned out to be a diversion. She had retreated behind them as Shou and Vincent dispatched them. They followed her down the tunnel and came into another room with a vast amount of demons.<p>

"Oh come on!" Vincent shouted.

"There's no point in complaining, just fight!" Shou said.

"I think we would do better to fall back…" Vincent offered.

* * *

><p>Sakuya rushed through the hallways of the manor. Remilia had commanded her to alert Patchouli about the attack, and gain her assistance.<p>

Sakuya rounded the corner and ran down the hallway leading towards the library. However she stopped as a black cloud obscured her path. The darkness converged together and formed into a strange creature.

It wore long flowing robes and had the head of a jackal. Various pouches and bags hung from its belt and it wore plenty of rings and pendants.

Sakuya didn't waste any time, she swiftly drew and hurled several knives at the creature. However, it held out its hand and the knives stopped in mid-air, hung there for a second, and then dropped to the ground.

"Now now… let's not be so hasty, Miss Izayoi."

"Who are you? And how do you know me?" Sakuya demanded.

"I am the arcanaloth, Alcain Fem'Att." Said the fiend. "As to how I know you, well your reputation precedes you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The arcanaloth spoke calmly. "Sure now you are Sakuya the Perfect Maid. But I do keep track of things that happen in this world, and I know you were once Sakuya the Killer, a girl living on the streets and…"

"What does that have to do with anything? That part of my life is over!"

"Is it now? Tell me, this invasion, you're excited about it, aren't you? The chance to finally use your true skills again. To once again feel the rush of excitement as you plunge the knife into living flesh. To feel the warm blood rush out of their body. To feel the pleasure of watching the life leave the eyes of a victim. To-"

"Enough! You're with them! Aren't you?"

"Yes… and no. Really it's rather complicated." Alcain replied.

"That's all I need to hear." Sakuya drew a knife in each hand, and slowed down time as she charged towards the fiend. However the creature held out its hands again and a jet of fire shot from his palm in slow motion. Sakuya leaped to the side, jumped off a wall and towards Alcain. He lifted his hands and Sakuya was frozen in mid-air.

Alcain pushed forwards and Sakuya was sent flying. She flipped over and hurled her two knives at her foe. The arcanaloth crossed his hands and a barrier appeared intercepting the weapons. He then fired several bolts of magic, which streaked through the air towards Sakuya. She quickly drew two more knives and deflected each of the shots. She then hurled them again, but to no effect as he deflected them.

"You haven't changed, Miss Izayoi, I can tell you that much."

Alcain launched another fireball. Instead of running to the side Sakuya ran towards it. At the last second she dropped to the ground and slid underneath the flames. She came up towards an off-guard Alcain, knives at the ready.

* * *

><p>"Earth Sign! <em>'Rage Trithilon!'<em>"

Massive boulders began to fall from the sky. Zeri was forced to abandon her attack, and focus on dodging the rocks. She leaped from bookcase to bookcase. Patchouli took off into the air above the shelves, and launched another ball of flame at her opponent.

Zeri landed atop a bookshelf, and twirled her staff; the flame struck it and passed to either side. Zeri then launched a bolt of black colored lightning at Patchouli, who had just enough time to erect a barrier to block it.

Zeri held up her staff, and the tip of it glowed with red energy, which formed into a spear tip. She leaped across the books shelves, and landed behind Patchy, who turned enough for the energy spear tip to strike her arm.

She leaped back and shouted. "Earth Water Sign! _'Noachian Deluge!'_"

A huge wave of water burst forwards, and engulfed Zeri. She was caught up in the sudden flood of water and washed down to the ground. As the water receded Zeri tried to regain her balance. But Patchouli wasn't going to give her a chance.

"Fire Metal Sign! _'St. Elmo's Pillar!'_"

A massive ball streaked down towards Zeri.

* * *

><p>A towering humanoid creature made entirely out of fire charged into the mass of demons. Those too slow or too unfortunate to get out of its way were set ablaze. Hotaru appeared, from another tunnel, leading a group of the elementals.<p>

However despite the reinforcements, the demons still outnumbered them.

"I've got an idea!" Vincent shouted. "This way!"

Vincent and Shou leaped over towards the tunnel Hotaru was coming from, and followed them down it. As they reached the end Vincent stopped and turned back. The demons were in pursuit, Ayon at the head. She had both swords drawn, and was laughing. "We have them on the run! Now! Finish them off!"

At that moment, Vincent slammed his fists into the side of the tunnel, again and again. The entire cavern trembled and then began to cave in, crushing the majority of the demons beneath tons of rock.

Ayon managed to get clear along with a few demons that were in the front of the charge. She shouted orders to the remainder of her force, and the charged at Shou.

Their weapons met in a flurry of blows. Shou knocked one of Ayon's swords lose. Ayon didn't move to pick it up, and instead hurled a blast of dark energy, hitting Shou square in the chest. She was sent flying backwards; however she flipped in mid air and landed on her feet. She then hurled her spear. Ayon ducked beneath the weapon, however that wasn't Shou's aim. A card appeared in her hand and she shouted.

"Light Sign! _'Absolute Justice!'_"

Shining beams of light fired forth, striking Ayon head on. She blasted back into a wall, causing the cavern to tremble again.

"Careful! I already collapsed one tunnel!" Vincent shouted, and then ducked the swing of a demon. "I'm not looking to bring down the entire place, I live here after all!"

Ayon picked herself up. Both of her swords had been blasted away, but she wasn't without a means of combat. She clenched her fists and charged straight at Shou. Shou dodged her swings and struck back with a kick. Ayon caught her foot and hurled her to the ground. Shou rolled aside as Ayon's tail struck down. A leg sweep brought Ayon to the ground as well. Fortunate for both, as there was a "Heads up!" From Hotaru who had blasted a demon through the air.

Both combatants rolled away from each other and stood up. Ayon then fired bolts of shadow at Shou who countered with a glowing beam of light. The two attacks met, and exploded.

Shou charged through the cloud and hit Ayon with a flying kick. She was knocked to the ground. Shou didn't waste any time. She drew another spell card and shouted.

"Heaven Sign! _'Scorched Earth Mandala!'_"

A pillar of light struck down upon Ayon, creating a blinding flash of light. When Shou could see again, she saw Ayon crouching on the ground, wounded.

"Damn it all!" She shouted, and then disappeared. A retreat.

The rest of the fiends vanished along with her, and the echo's of battle quieted down. However the peace lasted for only a moment. Then the entire cavern began shaking once again. The victors looked up to see the ceiling collapsing down upon them.

* * *

><p>"Well that went about as well as I expected…" Kyreth said.<p>

"You didn't expect them to win?" Flandre asked.

"The attack on the Ash Mountains was more of… an experiment." Kyreth explained. "I wanted to see how strong the dragons were. That was all."

"So now what?"

Kyreth smiled and stood up. "I think it's time we joined the game. Don't you agree?"

* * *

><p>Remilia dodged the swing of a sword wielding demon and impaled it with her spear. She leaped back as the creature faded away, and then fired several red blasts of energy from her hands. The bolts took the shape of bats and homed in on more fiends, destroying them.<p>

There was a momentary reprieve as Utsuho's arm cannon blasted another crater in the ground, vaporizing more fiends.

Remilia leaned against her spear, catching her breath. She called Meiling and Satori to her side. Satori rode on the back of a demon whose mind she had taken control of.

"Satori, I'm leaving you in charge for the moment. Keep up the fight, and try to destroy those portals. Byakuren, will you come with me? Sakuya and Patchy haven't returned and that worries me."

* * *

><p>Sakuya's knives passed through Alcain, hitting nothing but air. <em>An illusion!<em>

She turned around just in time, and blocked a swing of Alcain's claws. She then struck again with her knife, aiming for Alcain's heart. However at the last second, alcain twisted and the knife struck him in the side. He fell back, holding his hand over the wound.

"Not bad, I still see after all these centuries that you have that killer instinct."

Sakuya charged forwards again, however Alcain gestured and a barrier blocked her stab. He then fired blasts of dark energy as he fell back, which Sakuya dodged. Again she slowed down time around her before pursuing the arcanaloth. Alcain, didn't form a barrier, and instead, lifted his hand. An incredibly bright flash of light went off, blinding Sakuya. She stopped her attack and put up her guard, expecting a followup attack.

When she could see again, Alcain was gone. She heard the rustle of robes behind her, but it was too late. Alcain's claws tore into her back. She ignored the pain and turned around to see alcain reappear, having been temporarily invisible.

Putting some distance between her and the arcanaloth, she felt over the wounds. It wasn't deep. Sakuya chose to ignore the cuts, and hurled more knives. Alcain gestured, and the knives diverted in their paths, imbedding themselves into the walls.

She was about to attack again, when she began to feel dizzy and lightheaded. _Poison! _She thought.

Sakuya rushed forwards again, but the poison had spread fast. Her vision blurred and she found herself falling to the ground.

"Now now, don't try to move so much. It will only cause the poison to act faster."

Sakuya threw one last knife at her enemy, a knife he easily caught. She tried to move but she felt cold and weak, unable to catch her breath.

"If you survive, perhaps we'll meet again. I'm looking forward to getting to know the real you, Miss Izayoi."

Alcain disappeared in a whirlwind of darkness, leaving an unconscious and rapidly fading Sakuya on the floor.

* * *

><p>Zeri dispersed into a cloud of bats, and they scattered away from the fireball. She reformed back on top of the shelves, and the spear tip of her staff had transformed into a scythe blade. She slashed at Patchy who dodged by taking off into the air.<p>

Zeri lifted her hands, and a swarm of black energy bolts went firing towards Patchouli.

The witches spell book opened and she shouted. "Moon Metal Sign! _'Sunshine Reflector!'_"

Solid metal hexagons formed a sphere around Patchouli. The dark bolts were absorbed by the disks. Patchouli then shouted. "Fire!"

The metal disks shot out, spinning like buzz saws. Zeri flipped and dodged through them, barely avoiding getting sliced in half.

Once she saw an opening, she hurled her weapon straight towards patchouli and then dispersed into a cloud of bats.

Patchy dodged out of the way of the scythe, only for Zeri to appear behind her. She caught the scythe and smiled.

Patchy flew away, barely dodging another swing. Zeri transformed the scythe back into a spear and then hurled it at Patchouli. She turned about, and managed to catch the staff. However, before she could examine it, a black aura surrounded the weapon, and Patchy cried out in pain before dropping it. The black energy surrounded Patchouli forcing her to the ground.

"Nice try, but it only works for me." Zeri said, before swooping down on Patchouli, claws outstretched. Patchouli dispelled the aura engulfing her. The black energy shot outwards in all directions, knocking Zeri away. Patchouli stood up and then hurled another blast of fire.

Zeri ran to the side, dodging a volley of fireballs. She then held out her hands and cast one of her own spells. A cloud of noxious gas appeared over the entire area. Zeri held her breath, but Patchouli wasn't so lucky. She immediately began to cough. It quickly intensified, and she collapsed to her knees, clutching her throat.

"Wow... I should have done this at the beginning." Zeri gestured, and her staff flew towards her, and the scythe blade appeared again. She lifted it up and brought it down on Patchouli.

* * *

><p>Remilia and Byakuren flew down the hallway at top speed. They came to a stop when they saw signs of battle. Scorch marks on the walls next to imbedded knives.<p>

"Sakuya!" Remilia rushed over to her fallen servant. She was looking pale, and didn't respond to anything Remilia did.

"She's been poisoned." Byakuren said.

"Can you treat her?" Remilia asked.

"Yes I do know a few healing spells." Byakuren said. "We should take her to the library, perhaps Patchouli can provide some additional help."

Byakuren lifted the unconscious Sakuya over her shoulder and followed Remilia into Voile. However Remilia stopped suddenly as she entered the room.

"What's wrong?" Byakuren asked.

"There's been a fight here! I smell blood!"

"That would be the librarians." Said a voice.

Both Remilia and Byakuren looked up to see Zeristine sitting atop of a shelf. She held in her hand Patchy's torn and shredded robes. "She'll probably be back. I forgot to use the method to kill beings like her off for good."

"How dare you!" Remilia shouted.

Zeri casually tossed Patchy's robes to the ground. "No need to get all pissed off, kid. I'm done here anyways." She held up a bag containing several books in it.

"Kid? I can tell I'm several centuries your senior, you upstart-" Remilia started.

Suddenly a black circle appeared on the ground between the two of them. "And here's my ride! _Ciao_!"

Zeri leaped down into the portal and vanished. Remilia cried out, and was about to attempt to follow her in when another voice spoke out from the dark depths.

"Leaving so soon? But the main event is just starting."

Remilia fell back as Kyreth and Flandre emerged from the portal, which closed behind them.

"F-Flandre? You're alright!"

"Yes, yes she is." Kyreth said with a smile. She placed her hand on Flandre's shoulder. "Unfortunately, I don't think the same can be said for you."

The flaming spear Lævateinn appeared in Flandre's hand and she charged towards Remilia screaming. "I'll kill you bis sis!"

Remilia immediately blocked her swing with her own Gungnir, however the sheer force of the blow knocked Remilia off her feet. She managed to right herself in mid-air only for Flandre to slam into her again, sending her crashing through several bookshelves.

Remilia climbed out of a pile of rubble. "Flandre! I don't want to hurt you!" She pleaded.

"Well it's too late for that!" She drew out a spellcard. "Taboo! _'Four of a Kind!'_"

Her body split into four exact duplicates of herself.

* * *

><p>"Oh that's pretty cool!" Kyreth said, watching the battle.<p>

Byakuren set down Sakuya on a table and walked over to her. "What have you done with her?"

"Me?" Kyreth asked innocently, spreading out her arms. "I've done nothing but tell her the truth. Why nobody seems to get that is a mystery to me."

"Any truth you've told her has been distorted and twisted to your own desires. Your just using her!"

"Perhaps, but who are you to talk? You once used youkai for much the same purpose, am I right?"

"That has nothing to do with this!"

"Does it? As a matter of fact it has everything to do with this!" Kyreth said. She absently ran her fingers through her hair. "You feared death so you delved into black magic to grant yourself immortality. You're protection of the youkai was only as a means to sustain that power."

"I may have once been like that, but I have come to genuinely care for them!"

Kyreth began laughing. "Care for another? The weak do not deserve your pity, they only deserve to submit or be crushed."

"If that's what you truly believe, then there's no more reason for us to talk." Byakuren clenched her fists.

"So you want to fight. Heh, this should be good for a laugh!"

Kyreth charged forwards, slashing her claws at Byakuren. She side stepped and punched Kyreth in the side of the head, sending her flying. Kyreth flipped and landed on the side of a bookcase.

"Strong. More than I expected."

"Physical ability enhancements." Byakuren said. "If you know so much about me you should have known that."

"Well you learn something new each day!" Kyreth leaped from the side of the shelf towards Byakuren, claws outstretched. Byakuren caught her by the hand and slammed her into the ground, before lifting her up and slamming her again.

Kyreth broke free, and slashed with her claws, catching Byakuren on the side of the cheek. Byakuren kicked away the demon, sending her crashing into a bookshelf and knocking it over. Enhancing her speed, Byakuren ran towards Kyreth, smashing into her as she tried to rise. She then brought both fists down upon Kyreth, smashing her into the ground and forming a crater.

Kyreth shouted, and a wave of dark energy exploded outwards, knocking Byakuren back. She stood up from the small crater and hurled more dark energy at Byakuren. She dodged the projectile and unleashed a barrage of danmaku at her. Kyreth leaped over the shots but they were only a distraction. Byakuren caught Kyreth with a blow to the stomach, before unleashing a roundhouse kick, sending Kyreth flying. She flipped and landed on her feet. Byakuren rushed towards the demon again. Kyreth ducked beneath the attack and kicked Byakuren's feet out from beneath her.

"What happened to you? You were once a great magic user, seeking to become more and more powerful. but now, look at you, a peacemaker? Pathetic! I could teach you real power!"

"Don't try your tricks on me!" Byakuren said. "They won't work."

"Bah, I guess you really are a saint. It's so sickening."

"Well if you love violence so much, then how do you like this?" Byakuren grabbed Kyreths leg and pulled her to the ground. Kyreth attempted to slash her with her claws but Byakuren trapped both Kyreths hands with her legs. She then gripped one of the demons horns, and with loud _crack!_, it broke off.

Kyreth managed to free herself, and rolled away. She stood up at the same time as her enemy, and then felt the stump where one of her horns used to be. She shouted in rage and then leaped towards Byakuren. She sidestepped and then brought the demons horn down, piercing her back.

Kyreth fell to the ground, unmoving. Byakuren examined the demon, thinking the battle over. Suddenly Kyreth's arm shot out and she gripped Byakuren's ankle.

"If I can't corrupt you, then watch what I've done to Flandre!" A sphere if energy surrounded Byakuren, entrapping her.

* * *

><p>Remilia weaved through the air, dodging the attacks of the four Flandres. She hurled the Gungnir at one of them, destroying it.<p>

"Flandre! We don't have to fight!" Remilia said.

"Yes we do!" Said the remaining three Flandre's in unison. "You kept me locked up in the basement all my life, you refused to let me see anyone at all!"

"You were dangerous! To yourself and everyone else!" Remilia tried to explain. "I had no choice!"

"I'll show you dangerous!" Flandre shouted. "The yellow crystals on each of the Flandre's wings glowed brighter than the others. A blast of electricity fired down the tips of their spears and straight into Remilia. She was blasted down to the ground. One of the Flandre's tried to bring down their spear on her. Remilia's aura flared up and she unleashed a burst of red energy from her hands, destroying that clone, leaving only two remaining.

"It was for your own good!" Remilia said.

"The hell do you know about what's good for me?" Said the two remaining Flandres. "Was keeping me locked away from the world a good thing? Was never telling me about how vampires drink blood a good thing?"

"You know?" Remilia asked, shocked.

"Of course I know!" Flandre shouted back. One of the two Flandres charged forwards towards Remi. She slashed upwards with her claws destroying it. "Kyreth told me. Kyreth told me how it makes me strong. You tried to control me by not telling me. Well now I don't need you anymore!"

Flandre swung her spear, and a wave of fire shot out. Remilia leaped out of the way, but Flandre moved in front of her.

"Flandre! I am your sister!"

"No! Not anymore! Kyreth and Zeri are my sisters now! You can go die!" Each of Flandre's crystals began to glow brighter and brighter. The fire on the spear flared up until it was almost blinding.

"Is that what you really believe Flandre?" Remilia asked. "I love you, I always have and always…"

"Taboo! _'__Lævateinn!'_"

There was a huge explosion, and Remilia was sent flying. She smashed through row after row of book shelves, and the hit the ground, plowing a great trench. She finally came to a stop near where Kyreth and Byakuren were.

Kyreth walked over to where the unconscious vampire lay, and waited for Flandre to land next to her.

"Good job, Flan-dear!" Kyreth said. "Now let's finish the job."

Kyreth gestured, and a sharp piece of wood from the wreckage levitated upwards towards Flandre. She took the piece of wood in her hand and looked at it.

"A wooden stake. This should finish the vampire off for good. Why don't you do the honors?"

Flandre lifted up the stake of wood prepared to plunge it into Remilia's heart. Byakuren slammed against the walls of the sphere entrapping her and shouted. "No! Don't!"

Flandre stopped. She lowered the stake and looked at Byakuren.

Byakuren spoke up. "You'll be making the biggest mistake of your life if you do! It might not look like it right now but your sister loves you more than anything! She doesn't want you dead, she isn't using you! She's spent all the time she could searching for you!"

"What are you waiting for Flandre?" Kyreth asked. "Finish her off! Remember, this is the girl who kept you locked away in the basement! She doesn't love you; you're just a burden to her! You are the stronger sister! She is the weaker! She will not submit, so she must die!"

"No Flandre, This isn't how it has to be! Killing your sister isn't the answer! Think! Kyreth is the one who is using you! She- mmph! mmph!" Bindings suddenly appeared over Byakuren's mouth.

"That's enough out of you." She said calmly. "So finish the job Flandre. You said you would kill her, didn't you?"

Flandre was silent, she then dropped the stake. "No… I can't…"

Kyreth growled. "Well if you won't, then I will!" She gestured towards the stake and it flew into her hands. She laughed as she raised it up.

"No!" Flandre shouted.

Several things happened at once. As Kyreth was about to plunge the stake down, Flandre clenched her fist and shouted "Kyuu!" Remilia regained consciousness and seeing the stake, knew her peril. Unaware that Flandre was nearby, she unleashed one of her strongest spells.

"Scarlet Sign! _'Scarlet Devil!'_"

A huge pillar of red energy burst forth, engulfing both Flandre and Kyreth. When the light faded, both Kyreth and Flandre lay on the ground, wounded. Kyreth, now missing one of her hands, struggled to stand, while Remilia tried to approach Flandre.

"Flan?"

"No!" She cried out, trying to crawl away. "Get away from me!" She held out her hand and Remilia was blasted back.

The sphere trapping Byakuren disappeared, and she ran over to tend to Remilia.

Kyreth gestured and a black circle appeared beneath her and Flandre. Both of them began to sink into the portal. "This isn't over, vampire." Kyreth said, before they both disappeared.

* * *

><p>Outside the manor, the few remaining demons began to flee, most disappearing back into portals before the youkai defenders could finish them off. The portals near the lake disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the damaged mansion.<p>

* * *

><p>Byakuren helped Remilia up. "You can relax now." She said. "It's over."<p>

Remilia looked at the wrecked library, at the unconscious Sakuya and the shredded robes of Patchouli. She thought about her sister, and the fear in her eyes the end.

"No…" She said. "It's not." And then Remilia began to cry.

* * *

><p><em>Well this is the longest chapter so far. We finally get to see the forces of the Tanar'ri in action, and who's this mysterious Alcain fellow?<em>

_I hit writers block several times during this chapter, but I'm damn proud of it. I'm already getting to work on chapter 12. _

_**EDIT**: Okay, so at some reviewer suggestions I redid the battles of this chapter, making them less... one sided. Tell me if their better.  
><em>

_I'm going to answer a few reviews here now._

_Tao Tai: No this isn't a hatefic. It's intended to be dark, but I had no intention of writing anything resembling a hatefic._

_Kayne Kellan: Why does everyone compare my story to Imperfect Metamorphosis? I only said that I happened to like that fic and would recommend reading it of you haven't. And yes I have realized now that I've been making the conflict too one-sided. I have no intention of changing the outcome of the fights I've already written, but hopefully these edits will make them less of a curb stomp._

_Anonymous: On the question of the news show, the idea just popped into my head, and it was too good to pass up. I'm glad you liked chapter 7. That chapter too is one of my favorites. As for Parsee, I might not have explained this enough. She doesn't like other people that much and might rather wish them harm. But not to the level of what Kyreth did to Aya. And as for the idea of the radio tower battle. Hmmmmmm...  
><em>

_Thanks for reading this far. Please leave a review and tell me what you think!_

_~Dragonexx_


	12. Visitation: Flying Kung Fu

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 12

Visitation – Flying Kung-Fu

* * *

><p>The grey man sat cross-legged in the Moriya shrine, meditating. In the day that he had been there, the entire place had been transformed. The wood had turned black, and strange red veins grew across them. Runes had been inscribed across all surfaces, floors, walls and ceilings. In the shrines yard, great cracks ran across the land, and torches with black flames lined the sides of the path.<p>

The grey man hadn't moved since the he had sat down, and magic symbols floated in the air around him. He spoke softly, in an ancient language that predated the rise of mankind, not stopping for rest or breath.

The two devils who accompanied him had likewise not moved from their posts. They stood motionless and might have appeared like statues. Their kind did not require food, drink or sleep, and thus could have kept standing endlessly.

Suddenly the grey man stopped his chanting and opened his eyes. "It is time." He said calmly.

He stood up and the floating runes followed him. He headed for the shrine door, and slid it open. His wings spread out to their full length, as he walked across the yard. Where ever his feet touched the ground, black circles appeared. When he left them, the circles expanded and fiends emerged. More black circles appeared behind him, and even more fiends emerged from within the shrine.

The gray man slowly made his way down the path, the magical symbols floating around him like insects. He stopped at the edge of a cliff and held out his hands over the valley beneath it. He spoke, his voice resonating and echoing like a great multitude of speakers.

"The time is right and the land has been prepared." He said. "The ritual has been cast, and the hand of the Dark Ones are felt. I reach down into the nether planes and call forth their great power."

In the valley beneath, a black circle appeared, far larger than any before. The runes floating around him flew down, and took up positions around the circle. Youkai Mountain began to tremble, and then shook deeper, until a massive earthquake tore through it, leveling buildings and causing rocks to come crashing down.

The gray man still stood at the edge of the cliff and spoke the final words. "From the Gray Wastes of Hades, I call forth Khin-Oin!"

From the circle slowly emerged a massive tower. It was shaped like a human spine, with towers and balconies and windows carved into the bone. From the base of the tower, a strange fog emerged, spreading over the entire mountain.

"The second phase is done," the gray man said. He lowered his hands and immediately collapsed to his knees. "Man that was tiring… I swear, I don't know if this numbness will ever fade away…" He said while rubbing his rear end. "After all this, there's still one question I have to ask. Why did I have to do this? Couldn't the yugoloths summon their own tower instead of making me do it?"

"True, but you were clearly the best option if we wanted it done with perfection." Said a voice.

The gray man turned around, but was unable to locate the source of the voice.

"Oh, my apologies." Said the voice. There was a brief shimmer in the air, and Alcain Fem'Att appeared. Immediately the gelugon and osyluth sprung into action, spear and claw being thrust up to the intruder's throat.

"Whoa, whoa. Stand down, there's no need for violence here." said the gray man.

At his order, the devils lowered their weapons, and returned to their positions, unmoving.

The gray man turned back to look at Khin-Oin. "So, Alcain, what do you think?"

"'Tis good start," Said the arcanaloth. "Manifesting both the Well of Darkness and the Wasting Tower in this land is no mean feat. However you should not forget that there is still much more to be done."

"I have not forgotten," Said the gray man. "Yet, there are some things I believe should be taken care of before we I cause the site of power to manifest here. Not to mention that I would need to find the right location for it…"

"I have some ideas as to where…" Alcain said.

"You do? Where are they?"

"No, I'd rather not get your hopes up unnecessarily . I need more knowledge before I can confirm that they would be functional, continue on with what you were going to do."

"This goes above and beyond what you were contracted for, Alcain. Why do so much?"

Alcain smiled. "Were all fiends here, aren't we? Don't we all have a common goal?" The arcanaloth bowed. Then there was another brief shimmer, and Alcain was gone.

* * *

><p>Deep in the mountains that surrounded Gensokyo was the village of Mayohiga. The place was small and secluded, populated mostly by youkai. They generally kept to themselves, avoiding the squabbles and Incidents that happened constantly elsewhere in Gensokyo. Even still, the population was low, and most of the houses and buildings were unused.<p>

It was difficult to reach this village, even by flying. Thus it had managed to avoid the turmoil that the rest of Gensokyo was currently going through.

A figure in a red and white dress leaped across the rooftops, performing a series of acrobatic flips and twirls. She had brown hair and wore a green hat. She had cat ears, one of which was pierced, and a hole was cut in the back of her dress to allow for two tails to poke through.

As she jumped she sang, it was an upbeat and playful song.

"Come on everybody! Let's dance!

Come on, cheer up, raise your feet!

Everyone, make a circle! Cheers from Gensokyo!

If your optimistic we say hello,

Because even if things went wrong

We are all friends now!

Fairies and spirits

Youkai and tengu

Even gods are invited!

Come on everybody lets-"

Chen cut her song short as she landed on a building near the village square. In the center of the village was a fountain statue of the dragon god, just like the one in the human village. Three figures had appeared, as if out of nowhere and where observing the statue. One was tall and skeletally thin, another looked much like a giant bipedal blue insect. The third appeared the most human, albeit with gray skin and black wings.

Chen remained still and listened to their conversation.

"Another one, just like I saw in that other village." said the skeleton-like figure in a raspy, sandpaper-like voice. "What is it?"

"It's a statue." Replied the insect.

"Oh ha ha ha," replied the skeleton sarcastically. "I've heard lemures tell better jokes, Kulzu."

"Well if you must have an answer" The Kulzu. "It kind of looks like a dragon."

"Not any kind of dragon I've ever worked with…"

"You used to work with dragons, Ialil?" Kulzu asked.

"I thought I told you, I worked for Tiamat up on Avernus before I got promoted."

"Ah, I had forgotten. Well do you have an answer, boss?"

"It's a statue of the chief god of this realm, and yes it is a dragon. He assisted in the creation of this land, along with a youkai who, if my information is correct, resides in this very village."

Chen crept forwards to get a closer look. Unfortunately, the panel she placed her weight on groaned.

Almost instantly, Kulzu turned in her direction and exhaled a wave of blue energy from its mouth. Chen's reflexes were top notch, however. She leaped out of the way and landed on another rooftop just as the building was struck by the energy, covering it in ice.

"What was that?" Ialil asked.

"I thought I saw something over there?" Kulzu said.

Suddenly Ialil sneezed.

"Curse you." Said Kulzu.

"Thanks…" Ialil sneezed again. "I think it's just a freaking cat. I'm allergic to cats."

"A cat…" The gray man said. He looked about, and then made a beckoning gesture. Chen was lifted off of the rooftop and pulled towards the fiends.

"Would this be the cat that's troubling you?" the gray man said.

Ialil crept closer to Chen and knelt down. He suddenly sneezed again.

"Curse you." Kulzu said.

"Looks like it." Ialil said.

"Should we kill her?" Kulzu asked.

Chen gasped, and then scratched Ialil across the face. He stumbled back while Chen leapt to her feet. Immediately, Kulzu thrust his spear at her. She jumped up and landed on the pole. From there she leapt forwards and kicked the gelugon in the face. As he stumbled back, she landed on the ground and slashed his legs. The gelugon fell on his back, his spear rolling away.

The gray man sighed. "I had hoped to avoid violence while we were here, but predictably enough…"

"If there's going to be a fight -ACHOO!- Can I sit this one out?" Ialil asked. He then sneezed again.

"Bles- Curse you." The gray man said. "Sure, Kulzu can handle this, can't you?"

Kulzu stood back up. "Of cours-AAGH!"

He was then, unfortunately interrupted by a magically empowered spinning kick from Chen, sending him flying. He recovered quickly from the crash, and sat up.

"All right! That's it! No more mister nice- AUGHHHHHH!"

While Kulzu had been taunting, Chen had grabbed on to the ice devils head and sank her teeth into one of his antennae. She then began scratching at his face.

"GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!" Kulzu flailed about, trying to grab Chen. She crawled about on his body, scratching and biting. He finally succeeded in tearing the catgirl off him and hurling her away. She landed on her feet a few yards away.

Kulzu ran his hands over his face and groaned. "Noooo… I'm missing an antennae."

Ialil and the gray man began laughing.

"Oh come on! It's not funny! The erinyes love the antennae!" Kulzu turned towards Chen and charged towards her. At that moment, Chen kicked Kulzu's spear towards him, he tripped over it and landed face first on the ground.

"Had enough?" Chen taunted.

Kulzu stood up on all fours and then exhaled his freezing breath. Chen leaped out of the way as the fountain behind her froze over.

Kulzu stood up and then made a gesture with his hands. Large chunks of ice levitated into the air, and then fired at Chen. She acrobatically dodged them, before charging towards Kulzu again. He spun and smacked her with his tail, sending her flying. Again in mid-air she flipped to land on her feet. However she touched down on the ice and went sliding into a wall.

"How is this brat so strong?" Kulzu asked, while he moved towards his spear.

Suddenly a ball of fire struck the spear, incinerating it. "Because she's with me!"

Everyone looked up to see another woman standing on the rooftops. She had short blonde hair and wore a white and blue dress. The feature that drew the most attention however, were the nine tails extending from her back. Smoke curled from one of her hands.

"Ran!" Chen said

"Ran Yakumo? The streaker?" The gray man said.

Ran suddenly blushed, and her tails bristled. "That was only once!"

"Streaker… heh heh heh. I'd like to see that f- ACHOO!" Ialil sneezed again. His comment earned him a "Curse you" From Kulzu and a brief barrage of danmaku from Ran.

"Anyways, leave this village now!"

"Leave?" Chen complained. "But, Ran, I was winning!"

"Chen, you don't know what you're getting into."

"But…"

"Chen!" Ran said sternly.

"Yes Ran…"

"Return home, I'll deal with these three."

"Yes Ran…" Chen stood up and took off over the rooftops.

"Good riddance." Ialil said, relieved.

"I'll ask you once more, leave now!"

The air around Ran's hands distorted and shimmered.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no to that." The gray man said. "Ialil?"

"With pleasure!" Ialil leaped towards ran. At that moment, the energy she had been gathering formed into electricity in her hands. She launched a blast of electricity towards the bone devil, catching him in mid-jump and sending him flying into the side of a building.

Kulzu unleashed another blast of ice. Ran leaped over the attack and formed blue flames in her hand. She hurled them down at the ice devil. However, Kulzu redirected the flow of freezing energy upwards, intercepting Ran's fire. The two attacks collided, creating a cloud of strange blue smoke. Ran flew downwards, bursting through the cloud and bringing down both her fists on the fiend and smashing him into the ground.

Suddenly, behind her, Ialil leaped from the wreckage, and towards Ran. However, she swiftly turned and caught him by the tail and swung him into Kulzu just as he was about to rise, sending the both of them rolling away.

Ran then spread out her arms, and a blue flame appeared at the tip of each of her tails. She then pointed forwards, and the fires launched towards the devils.

Just in time, Kulzu slammed his fist against the ground. A sphere of ice formed over him and Ialil. The fire hit the ice creating an explosion sending chunks of ice everywhere.

Ran made a throwing motion, and Ialil was sent flying backwards, crashing through the side of a building. Kulzu stood up and clasped his hands together. When he pulled them apart, a new spear made of ice appeared in his grip. He hurled it at ran, who sidestepped.

Kulzu gestured, and chunks of ice began raining from the sky above Ran. She held up her hand, and the ice stopped in mid-air, before transforming into blue fire. She then hurled the newly created fireballs at Kulzu which exploded on impact, and sent him crashing into the rising Ialil, destroying them both.

She turned to the gray man. "I won't ask you again, leave now!"

However the gray man wasn't paying any attention to her. He was examining the dragon statue. "Yes, extraordinarily well made. And these eyes, are they gemstones?"

"Are you listening to me?"

"This statue would look lovely in the garden…"

Ran fired a blast of blue flames over the gray man's head. Afterwards, he slowly looked up, then turned around.

"Oh… they've been defeated. Well that's wonderful, now I'll have to re-gather their essences again."

"I know you heard me, if you won't leave…"

The gray man sighed. "And it was such a good statue too… A pity… Maybe the damage won't be that bad… " His wings extended and he took off, landing on the statues head. He then closed his eyes as he touched his hand to the statue. The statue glowed for a second before the light faded.

"But duty calls…"

There was the sound of shifting stone and the statue began to move. The stone dragon tore it's self free from the platform and water sprayed everywhere.

The gray man pointed at Ran and the animated statue charged towards her. Ran leaped into the air, avoiding the stone dragons snapping teeth. From there she fired down several shots of blue flame, but they simply bounced off of its stone body.

Ran landed on a rooftop. Suddenly she heard something to her side. It was the gray man floating upside down. "Scorch marks can be cleaned up easily enough? Right?" He asked.

The stone dragon lashed out, at the kitsune like a snake. Ran stepped aside, and the dragon smashed through the roof of the building.

Ran gestured downwards, and the stone dragon was sent crashing to the floor of the building. She then clasped her hands together, and the entire building collapsed upon the statue. The gray man had already disappeared.

She landed in the street and caught her breath. For a second she thought it was over, but then the pile of rubble exploded and the stone dragon burst out. However before it could strike again, miniature storm clouds appeared over the dragon, and a highly caustic acid rained down, creating pockmarks on its body. The dragon turned about, trying to find whoever had cast the spell. \

"Great, more repairs necessary…" the gray man said.

"Hit it now!" Someone shouted. Ran turned to see Chen standing beside her.

"Chen? I thought I told you to return home!"

"But Raaan! I wanna help!"

"This isn't the time to be arguing with me! Go-"

Ran's response was cut short as both of them were forced to dodge another attack from the dragon. Ran gestured and several illusions of both her and Chen appeared around the area. The dragon lashed out at each illusion ignoring them when they turned out to be false.

"This isn't the time to be arguing with me!" Ran repeated. "Go back to the house! "

"But…"

At that moment the dragon located the real Ran and Chen and charged at them, mouth wide open. Ran picked up Chen in one hand and rolled away. She stood back up and with her free hand launched a bolt of lightning. The electricity impacted against the side of the stone beasts head, blasting off its horns and one of its eyes, and cracking several teeth. The dragon was knocked back across the street.

"Well that's not good." Said the gray man. He suddenly appeared in a cloud of smoke, floating next to the dragons head. "Oh dear, what a mess." He shook his head.

The dragon reared back, and charged forwards, passing through the gray man, who dispersed into another cloud of smoke.

Still carrying Chen, Ran jumped away from the dragon, and ran along the rooftops, determined to get Chen out of danger.

As she retreated, the gray man materialized next to her. "I could magically repair the damage, but it wouldn't be the same. I'd always know that it was there, and that kind of ruins the effect. Not to mention that it would be kind of tacky… What do you think?"

"Go to hell!" Ran shouted.

"Already live there." The gray man said and then dispersed again.

Ran slowed down, confused by the strangers words. That proved to be her undoing. The dragon sank it's teeth into her ankle and she fell to the ground, letting go of Chen, who rolled away. Ran turned and punched the dragon in the mouth shattering several of its teeth and freeing her foot. The dragon didn't resume its attack on her, but rushed towards the fallen Chen and coiled around her. As she tried to rise it pinned her to the ground with one of its talons and opened its mouth.

Ran immediately rose, ignoring the pain in her foot, and rushed to the dragon, but was too late. The dragon smashed its head into the ground, crushing Chen beneath it.

"CHEEEEEEEEEN!" Ran cried.

"Over here."

Ran turned and saw the gray man holding Chen. Relief filled ran's heart, soon replaced by a new worry for the catgirls safety.

"Let her go!" Ran demanded.

The stone dragon lifted its head and looked around briefly before seeing Chen in the gray mans arms. It charged forwards again. However the gray man held Chen with one arm, and extended the other. The instant the dragon touched the gray man's hand it stopped, becoming again motionless and inanimate.

"I think I would call this battle over." The gray man said.

"Let. Her. Go."

"Now now, Miss Ran." The gray man chided. "It doesn't appear that you're in any position to make demands."

Chen struggled in the gray mans grip, and then attempted to bite his arm. Her sharp teeth didn't even break the flesh, and the gray man appeared to take no notice.

A hundred different strategies coursed through Ran's head, but she couldn't rely on any of them without knowing what her enemy was capable of.

"What do you want?" Ran asked.

"To do what I initially came here to do. Talk. I wish to speak with Yukari Yakumo."

Ran growled, and then relented. "Very well. Follow me."

* * *

><p>The gray man had returned Chen to Ran, and she held the catgirl in her arms.<p>

I'm sorry Ran. Chen thought.

Don't worry, you were just trying to do what you thought was right. Ran comforted. However, now you understand the importance of following orders.

Yes Ran. Chen answered.

"I'm curious." The gray man stated. "Would you be willing to answer a question for me?"

"What?" Ran asked suspiciously.

"The others in this village may keep to themselves, but you are no doubt aware of what has transpired in this realm in the past few days? Are you not?"

"I am." Was all Ran answered.

"Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the relationship between a master and shikigami is very similar to the relationship between a master and familiar."

"You are correct."

"Then one of the features of that bond is the sharing of information, for example your brief telepathic conversation just now. If the familiar or shikigami is aware of something, the master is on some level, aware of it as well."

Ran showed no surprise at the gray man reading their telepathic link. "So you're wondering if Yukari aware of what has been happening?"

"Indeed, I have been wondering why the ruler of this realm has not acted in response to the events of the past few days. Is she aware of what has been happening?"

"No, I don't believe she is."

"Hmm? And why not. My wife is not the most subtle of the baatezu."

"She has been… asleep." Ran admitted.

"Asleep?"

They came to a house sitting on the edge of a cliff, presenting a great view of Gensokyo from the porch in the back.

"That's how she spends most of her time."

"Seriously? Hardly fitting for such an important person. Lord Asmodeus never sleeps. Not that he needs it anyways…"

"Well this isn't hell or wherever you're from." Ran said. She opened the sliding door and led the gray man down a series of hallways, to a room. In it, Yukari Yakumo lay asleep on a futon, looking peaceful and content.

"Good luck waking her. I've been trying for days."

The gray man knelt down next to Yukari and placed his index and middle finger on her forehead. "In that case, perhaps it will work best from the inside…"

* * *

><p>There are no oceans or seas in Gensokyo, as the realm is entirely landlocked. The largest body of water is in fact the misty lake nearby the Scarlet Devil Mansion. A lake that said Scarlet Devil claims as her own. (It is also worth stating that nobody really cares, and draws water from the lake all the same. She had once tried to instate a fee on the water, a fee Reimu had swiftly put a stop to.)<p>

However the lack of saltwater in Gensokyo, is no limitation what so ever it the realm of dreams.

Dread Pirate Captain Yukari stood the bow of her ship, bravely looking forwards. She was certainly dressed the part, of a sea captain, with some… modifications. Namely a corset, thigh high boots and a blue sash, leaving one leg exposed. She adjusted her tricorn on which was a skull and crossbones. , and then took a spyglass from her belt.

However before she could look through it, Ran appeared behind her, dressed similarly, albeit now wearing an eye patch. "Any idea where we are?" Ran asked.

Just moments before, they had been sailing on the calm tropics, in pursuit of a rich merchant vessel. The skies had been bright and sunny, and there was a strong tailwind.

Now the skies were dark and stormy, lightning constantly flashing followed by deafening thunder. The black waters were rough and rocked the ship in all directions. In the distance were huge icebergs. And Yukari had the strange feeling that something was burning in the distance, just out of sight.

"What foul seas are these?" Yukari asked. "This be no natural ocean."

"A ship! A ship off the stern!" Shouted a crew member.

Both Yukari and the dream-Ran turned around to see another ship following behind theirs. It had red sails and it's wood was painted black. When Yukari turned her spy glass on the ship, she saw that it was crewed by black winged creatures. They looked much like tengu, albeit with bird talons for feet and feathers behind their ears. In their hands they each carried a blazing sword.

Flying above the ship was a huge hulking gargoyle like monster, wielding a large club. It's eyes glowed red and it had razor sharp teeth protruding from its mouth.

"They're coming too fast for us to avoid!" Ran said. "Orders captain?"

"Turn us to port and man the cannons!" Yukari shouted. "Prepare for battle!"

Yukari ran over to the port side, and drew a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the other as the ship approached. There was a controlled chaos on the ship as the crew rushed to their stations

The winged creatures screeched and jeered as their ship drew close. The massive creature above swopped down and slammed onto the deck, smashing aside sailors with its massive club.

Yukari was about to join the fight against the monster, when a cannonball came hurtling towards her. She slashed at it with her sword, cutting it in half, and passing harmlessly between the two pieces.

One of the winged creatures drew it's sword and charged at Yukari. She blocked the swing with her own sword, and then shot it point blank in the forehead with her pistol. The creature, which Yukari somehow knew to be called an erinyes, remained standing for a second longer before falling over the edge of the ship and into the icy waters below.

Yukari turned to face the large creature, just in time to see an unfortunate crew member's head get smashed to a pulp. Upon noticing Yukari, the war devil batted aside the crew still fighting it and stomped towards her.

Yukari ran towards the creature, opening fire. However the bullets had little effect, only serving to make the monster angrier. It swung its club about wildly, narrowly missing Yukari and smashing several crates.

"So that's why the rum is always gone…" Yukari commented.

Yukari ducked beneath another swing and stabbed upwards into the beast's wrist. In pain it dropped its club which went rolling away and into the water.

The creature brought up both its hands and smashed them down. Yukari rolled aside, and fired another shot, managing to shoot off one of its horns.

"Damn inaccurate period weapons…" Yukari tossed the old gun aside, and suddenly, out of nowhere she was holding a rocket launcher.

She fired, and the rocket blasted a hole clear through the creatures chest, sending it flying. It landed in the water with a massive splash, sending water high into the air.

She turned to the enemy ship, which had drawn closer. She ran to the edge of her ship and leaped landing on the other ship. As she did so the rocket launcher became a machine gun, and she fired a spray of bullets, mowing down erinyes left and right.

"Having fun?" Said a voice behind her. The machine gun suddenly jammed, but Yukari wasn't concerned. She was suddenly holding her sword again. She spun and slashed at whoever was behind her, only for him to block it with his own sword.

The blade was pitch black, with a white hilt. A red gem was set into the pommel. The swords owner much resembled the erinyes before, but lacking the taloned feet. His skin was gray and his eyes were golden.

"Ah, I haven't had a good clashing of duel in ages, not since Prince Levistus and I had that… Well you get the point."

"No, no I don't." Yukari smiled. "And the answer is yes. I am enjoying myself."

She kicked back the gray man and then pulled out a grenade. She removed the pin and then tossed it to her opponent.

"Here! Catch!"

"What is this?" The gray man asked. As he examined the explosive, Yukari leaped back to her own ship.

The grenade exploded, blasting off both of the gray mans arms, sending shrapnel into his body and slamming him into the mast. He opened his eyes to see Yukari rushing to the wheel of her ship. She pressed a button and the entire ship transformed.

In the span of a few seconds, a giant wooden mecha towered over the gray mans ship. The mecha extended both of its hands which became massive cannons. The last thing he heard was Yukari shouting "FIRE!" And then there was a blinding white flash.

* * *

><p>Back in the real world, the gray man cried out in pain and was physically blasted back, hitting a wall with enough force break through the wood and land in the yard outside.<p>

Back inside, Yukari slowly awoke, stretching and yawning. She sat up and saw her shikigami. "Ah… Ran. I had the most interesting dream." She said sleepily.

"Um… Not exactly…" Ran said.

"What do you mean?" Yukari asked.

Chen pointed towards the hole in the wall, and the gray man recovering outside. Both his hands were smoking, which he put a stop to with a glance. He stood up and dusted himself off.

"Don't worry about the mess!" The gray man shouted. "I'll handle it!"

The gray man gestured, and pieces of wood lifted off the ground, returning to their original places."

Suddenly his voice could be heard from the hallway. "When you're ready, you can meet me in the foyer."

"Ran? What's going on?" Yukari stood up, and as she did so, her nightgown changed into a violet colored dress, and a white mop cap.

Ran quickly filled her master in on what she knew. She started with the attacks on the human and tengu villages, then moved to the deaths of Keine and Marissa, continued with the attack on the dragons lair, and the attack on the SDM and finishing with the brief fight in Mayohiga.

Yukari remained calm throughout the entire thing, interrupting only to ask if Reimu was still okay.

"Milady?" Ran asked. "What should we do?"

"We should have a talk." Yukari said, a small smile appearing on her face.

"What?" Ran asked, shocked. "You can't mean to seriously-"

Yukari placed a finger to Ran's lips. "Acting with haste will only make things worse. If one of the enemy leaders wishes to speak with us, we should take the opportunity."

Yukari left her bedroom and headed down the hallway to the foyer. There the gray man sat in front of a table, on which was a teapot, cups, and a small pyramid made of small sandwiches. The fireplace had been lit, filling the room with warmth.

Yukari's furniture was the height of luxury, taken straight from the outside world. She sat on a chair opposite the gray man. Ran and Chen sat next to her.

"I hope you don't mind, but I felt a fire would be fitting." He gestured, and the teapot lifted into the air, and then poured tea into four cups. "I believe tea is the preferred drink here. I favor wine myself, but as they say, when in Arcadia…"

The four cups floated into the air. The gray man took one, and Yukari Ran and Chen did the same.

"First, Miss Yakumo, I'd like to introduce myself. "I am the solar Vayne. I hail from Stygia, the fifth layer of the Nine Hells of Baator."

Yukari sipped her tea. She accepted this information calmly. "Demons from hell."

"Devils," Vayne corrected. "There's a very distinct difference between the two."

"Sure…" Yukari said.

Vayne laughed softly, a strange, musical sound. Despite the situation, Yukari suddenly felt the urge to laugh along with him. She resisted it. "Yes, many mortals don't care what the differences are. I could tell you, but that's not what the intention of this visit was for."

"Well then? What are you here for?" Yukari asked.

"First of all, I have a few questions I would like answered. You are the ruler of this realm. Are you not?"

"Well, technically."

"Technically?"

"True I am the ultimate authority here, but I leave much of the running of things to local leaders. Preserves my sanity that way."

"A very… interesting… style of leadership."

"Well if I got involved every time two tribes of youkai got into a territorial dispute or some idiot decides to mess with the natural order of things out of boredom, I'd never have any time to myself."

"Ah… Commendable." Vayne took another sip of tea.

"But, I don't believe even that's why you're here. Is it?" Yukari gestured, and several gaps opened in the air, the ends tied with red bows. Through one of the gaps, Khin-Oin could be seen, and the image showed several wolf tengu examining the area. Another gap showed the collapsed tunnels of the Ash mountains while the next showed the extensive damage the SDM had suffered. There was one showing the damage suffered to the human village.

Yukari opened one final gap, showing the underground city in chaos, as demons rampaged through the streets, fighting with the remaining resistance and, if lacking that, each other.

"You've wreaked havoc across the land I created, why?" Yukari began to speak more forcefully, and her irritation was obvious.

"Well the attacks on the human and tengu villages were both a test and a demonstration. To gain knowledge on how the residents of this realm fought and to show what we are capable of as well. And that was my wives doing, not mine. True I ordered Kyreth to make her way down to the underground and manifest Te'Mat Shar, the Well of Darkness, but how she went about doing that, was entirely her business."

Ran clenched her fist, and the teacup shattered. "Don't give us that nonsense! You're the one in charge of all this, which means it's your fault!"

"True, I suppose there is no way of getting around that." Vayne drained the last of the tea in his cup and sat it down.

"You've failed to answer the question." Yukari said. "What is your ultimate goal here."

"You haven't guessed it yet? The baatezu wish to take Gensokyo as their own."

Chen gasped and Ran stood up, blue fire dancing on her fingertips. Vayne made no motion to defend himself, and indeed appeared not to notice.

"Sit down Ran." Yukari ordered.

"But, Yukari."

"Sit down." She said sternly.

Ran sighed and obliged.

Yukari turned back to the angel. "Conquering Gensokyo? You wouldn't be the first to try. Mima, Shinki, and countless others have tried and failed. The question I always want to ask is why? What does Gensokyo have that is so desirable?"

"You don't know?" Vayne asked. "Well, you've been to the so called 'outside world' plenty of times, haven't you?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything."

"Tell me. What's the most major difference between Gensokyo and the outside world, nay, the vast majority of creation. I'll tell you. Magic."

"Magic?" Yukari asked.

"Yes. You have no doubt observed it, but elsewhere in the universe, rare are those who can tap into the flow of magic, and rarer still are those who recognize the talent and develop it. Take this planet for example. The magic in the outside world is near dead. Those who study the arts of magic struggle to create even the simplest of conjurations. Their powers are limited in usage, often no more that once a day! The vast majority of the population believes that magic is nothing more than a myth, a legend. Even in Baator, where the native creatures are innately magical, and still there are limitations of how often their own natural powers may be used!

"But then we have Gensokyo. What passes into legend in the outside world becomes real here. And nothing is more disbelieved in than magic! That disbelief grants this land immense magical power! Can you not feel it?" Vayne began speaking faster and louder, as he became more into what he was saying. "Magic fills the very air, the soil, the water! Anyone in this world who wishes it can use magic. Housewives use simple charms to help clean and dust. Farmers enchant their crops to keep away pests. Travelers use spells to ward against the dust and rain. Storeowners use spells to keep their foods from rotting! Children play games with their magic, and anyone in this realm who wishes it can fly!

"Think! Think of what could happen were we to harness that power! If we were able to create a permanent link between Gensokyo and the Great Ring, we could change the very nature of the multiverse as we saw fit!" Yukari was appalled to find that she was nodding and agreeing with what Vayne was saying. His words seemed to penetrate deep into her very heart, and she somehow felt the urge to help with his task. Such was the power of an angels voice.

"And if I were to refuse?" She asked, trying to re-imagine the angel as her enemy.

Vayne appeared to show little concern at her words, and looked at Yukari with an expression much like a parent might a child who claims to know more than they really do. Yukari felt the sudden urge to apologize, which she resisted.

"And if I were to refuse?" Yukari repeated, her voice revealing more anger.

"Then you would be crushed by the forces of the baatezu like so many other realms have been." His statement was simple matter of fact. "So it comes down to this, what is your choice? Will you join us or die?"

Yukari finished the rest of her tea, and set the cup down. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on regaining control of her thoughts and emotions. She took a deep breath.

A gap opened behind the gray man, revealing a mysterious realm of staring eyes. Vayne was sucked into the portal and it closed behind him.

Yukari stood up and held out her hand. From the corner of the room her umbrella flew into her hand.

"Is he gone?" Chen asked.

"No. He's too strong for me to be able to hold him in there for long." Yukari said. Another gap opened up beneath Yukari and she sank down into it. "Remain here." She ordered.

Yukari emerged into her own realm close to Vayne. She flew towards him as he fell (though could it really be called falling when the realm had no real up or down direction?), and struck him with punch to the side of the head.

He went flying, and Yukari opened another gap, sending him out of the borderlands, and back into Gensokyo. He crash landed on the side of a mountain near Mayohiga, the impact forming a small crater.

Vayne leaped out of the crater, the attack having done little damage. Yukari flew out of the gap, and immediately went on the offensive, aiming another punch at the angel. He turned, and blocked the attack with one hand. He place the palm of his other hand over Yukari's face, and fired a blast of light at point blank range. Yukari was blinded and sent flying back. She righted herself, and immediately altered the boundary between visible and invisible, shielding herself from sight until her own sight returned.

"So you chose to fight." Vayne shouted, in no particular direction. He sighed. "Unlike my allies, I don't like fighting. But alas, to battle I am called once again…"

Yukari's vision began to recover, and just in time to see the gray man slam his fist against the ground. Enormous metal spikes emerged from the ground, spreading out in all directions.

Yukari took off, narrowly avoiding being impaled. The gray man spread his wings and took off into the air after Yukari.

His eyes glowed for a brief second, before he said. "I can see you." He held out his hand, and a jet of flame shot from his palm.

Yukari disappeared into a gap once again, and reappeared behind the angel. She brought her umbrella down on his head, sending him flying back down towards the spikes. The gray man righted himself and landed on a spike, sliding down it. From there he gestured, and the spikes suddenly launched into the air. Yukari weaved in and out of volley of spikes, even running along the length of some of them.

She opened a gap, above the gray man, and a torrent of water poured down over him. Yukari used her powers over boundaries again, altering the boundary between liquid and solid. The water instantly froze over, trapping Vayne within.

She flew down towards the angel, now frozen within the ice, an expression of shock on his face. Suddenly the ice began to glow. The ice exploded and the angel burst out. Instantly he drew his sword and charged towards Yukari. She blocked the swift series of blows with her umbrella and then pushed forwards, sending Vayne skidding on the ice. He took off into the air with a thrust of his wings, and a sphere of white light appeared in his hands.

He hurled blast after blast of energy at Yukari, who raised a barrier, absorbing the attacks. She lifted her hand, and the ice transformed back into water. The water flowed through the air, surrounding and engulfing Vayne.

Yukari directed the water against the side of the mountain, repeatedly slamming Vayne against the ground. Finally she caused the water to disappear, and then gapped over to Vayne just as he was rising. She grabbed the angel and hurled him up into the air. She teleported up to him, only for him to grab onto her. He then flew downwards, energy surrounding them both.

They both crashed into the side of the mountain, plowing a deep crater into the ground. He pinned Yukari to the ground with one hand, and prepared to impale her with his sword with the other. Yukari opened a gap beneath her and sank into it. Reappearing in the air above the crater, Yukari then opened gap to the core of a volcano. Molten lava poured out, emptying into the crater. Vayne looked up, just before the lava hit. "Oh dear…"

Once the crater was filled, she closed the gap and flew out into the center of the lava lake. Suddenly Vayne surfaced, his body and wings in flames. He tried to take off, but sank back into down into the glowing lava.

Yukari breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to fly away, when she heard laughter.

"Leaving so soon?" Vayne's voice sounded. "I'm just getting started!"

The lava suddenly rose up into a pillar. The pillar formed into a massive, multi-armed monster composed entirely of lava.

"This is nowhere near over, Miss Yakumo!" Vayne shouted, his voice now deeper. The lava monster opened its mouth, and a jet of flame shot out, engulfing the entire mountainside in fire. Yukari fled into a gap and reappeared on the side of another mountain nearby. The lava monster moved towards her leaving a trail of molten rock behind him. Vayne brought his many fists down at Yukari, who quickly dodged the blows. She then gapped away, putting some distance between her and the monster.

Yukari lifted her hands into the air, and the sky rumbled. Thick, dark, clouds began to appear, far faster than normal and lightning flashed among them. Vayne gestured and the lava formed into a massive axe which he lifted.

"Where are you, Miss Yakumo? I have a few more questions to _axe _you!" Vayne paused for a second. "Okay… I realize how lame that was, but I couldn't resist."

Vayne located her, and hurled the lava axe. Yukari gapped away to another area, keeping her focus on the storm she was forming. The lava axe exploded on impact sending hot rock and lava in all directions.

A fierce downpour began, and Vayne cried out in pain as the water cooled his lava body, hardening it. Vayne countered by melting more of the rock around him, adding to his mass. Yukari opened a gap to the bottom of the ocean, pouring more water onto him while the rain intensified. Vayne couldn't gather enough mass.

In a final push, Yukari altered the boundary between hot and cold, and the lava monster cooled completely, becoming completely solid.

At a single gesture, a massive bolt of lightning struck the monster crumbling it into dust. Yukari knelt down, catching her breath.

"Tired already?" The angel's voice rang out. "But this is where the real battle begins!"

The entire mountainside began to tremble. She looked around. Five enormous pillars had appeared around her and she suddenly felt herself rising up into the air.

Suddenly Yukari realized, those weren't pillars, they were fingers! She turned around and an entire area of the mountain rising up, taking the form of Vayne, many times larger than the lava monster.

His voice boomed and was near deafening as he spoke. "I can animate near anything I choose!" However, he sounded slightly tired, despite his boasts.

The mountain-Vayne raised his other hand and brought it down, prepared to crush Yukari in his palm.

Yukari gapped away, and then called down lightning on the monster. The electricity struck Vayne clear in the head, but had little effect.

Vayne aimed another punch at Yukari. Again she gapped away, this time reappearing, running along the length of his arm. She moved up to his shoulder and smashed her fist down into the stone. Cracks ran down the stone, and then the entire arm fell off, crumbling on the ground.

Vayne roared, and clasped his remaining hand over the stump, nearly crushing Yukari.

She didn't waste any more time. Taking off into the air, she opened a gigantic gap in deep space. An enormous meteorite came crashing through, smashing into Vayne's head, crumbling the stone giant into a pile of rubble and forming another crater. Yukari landed at the edge of the pile, breathing heavily.

Bringing in something that big was no easy task, nor was changing the weather so rapidly.

_No way is this over. _Yukari thought mournfully.

Vayne burst from the pile of rubble, back in his normal form, and flew towards Yukari. She sidestepped the punch and then opened a gap right over Vayne's hand, trapping it. _He's getting tired and sloppy._ She noted.

She opened another gap, trapping his other hand. Still breathing heavily, Yukari reached into another gap and pulled out Vayne's sword from his sheath.

However before she could do anything with it, Vayne inhaled. He puffed out his cheeks and then spat out a swarm of insects. The insects immediately flew towards Yukari and began stinging her.

She dropped the sword and gestured. Flame surrounded her, reducing all the insects to ashes. It was a brief distraction, but enough for the angel to escape. Vayne charged forwards, unleashing a solid punch to Yukari's head. He swiftly grabbed her as she went flying, and then kneed her in the stomach.

He then slammed her repeatedly against the ground before tossing her away. Yukari landed at the edge of the crater.

Vayne began walking towards her, but Yukari could see that he was breathing almost as heavily as Yukari was. Yukari gestured, and the sword which had fallen lifted into the air. Vayne flew towards Yukari, but didn't notice his own sword as it flew towards him. The blade sliced clean through the angel's neck, sending his head to the ground while the body tumbled over her and into the crater.

Yukari walked over to the angels head, and breathed a sigh of relief. _Finally, It _has _to be over!_

She picked up Vayne's head and examined it. Suddenly Vayne opened his eyes and shouted. "_BOO!_"

Startled, Yukari tossed the head away, and it fell down the edge of the crater. After a few seconds the angel reemerged from the pit intact, laughing. "Well… that wasn't well thought out. Okay time to… Wait… this isn't right…"

His head was on backwards. Yukari watched in horror as Vayne pulled his own sword to him and severed his own head. His body caught his head and turned it around before replacing it.

Ignoring the shocked Yukari for the moment, he talked to himself. "Is that really what I look like from behind?"

His wings spread out, and a second pair of wings appeared.

"Much better."

Yukari screamed. She held out her hands, and countless bolts of lightning poured down from the sky, slamming the angel down into the ground. She then flew down to the angel and opened a gap. She grabbed him and plunged them both through it.

With all of her strength she formed a barrier around herself as they emerged into their location, the center of a star.

The gray man screamed as his body was crushed and burnt, using his most powerful magic to preserve his own existence.

As her shield dwindled, Yukari opened one last gap back to Gensokyo. Both of them hit the ground hard.

Vayne struggled to his feet as did Yukari.

"You have fought valiantly, Miss Yakumo." He said, though exhausted. "But it all ends here!"

He flew forwards, and slammed into her. The angel spoke several words in a strange language and a portal opened up behind Yukari. As she was sent flying towards it, Yukari gestured, and Vayne was sent flying towards her. She grabbed onto him, and pulled him into the portal with her.

They emerged in a black void. As they entered, Yukari screamed as her body was wracked with unimaginable pain. She looked at her arms and saw them somehow aging, which should have been impossible for a youkai.

The angel went through a similar effect, his four wings returning to two and his radiance diminishing.

Yukari turned her head, which took an extreme effort. She saw a massive black rock behind her, and they were headed straight for it! Yukari wrestled with the angel, and managed to reverse their positions. She pushed forwards, and slammed Vayne into the rock…

* * *

><p>Ran had been watching from the porch on the back of the house. She had seen powers the angel was in possession of and worried for her mistresses safety. And now she couldn't see any of them.<p>

"Where are they?" Chen asked, leaning over the fence and scanning the area.

Suddenly she heard a crash coming from the inside of the house. The two of them rushed inside, to see both combatants lying on the ground.

Her heart sank when she saw Yukari. She looked like an old woman. Her skin was wrinkled, and her hair was gray and thin. Despite this, somehow Yukari was laughing.

Ran turned to look at her opponent. He was in even worse shape than she. He hadn't aged, but he looked pale (if that was even possible). His wings were gone, as was the entire lower half of his body. One of his eyes was missing and only one of his arms remained.

Ran immediately rushed over to Yukari, but she shook her head.

"Finish him." She croaked, her voice weak and raspy. She struggled to lift her hand and pointed to the angel.

Ran nodded, and blue fire appeared in her hands. However before she could do anything further, a black circle appeared between them.

From the circle emerged Kanna. Ran prepared for another fight, but was surprised when Kanna made no moves to attack. She immediately walked over to Vayne and picked up what remained of the angel. She returned to the black circle and sank back into it, leaving only a confused Yukari, Ran and Chen.

* * *

><p>Ran helped the weakened Yukari back on to the couch, and poured her a cup of tea. Yukari accepted it gratefully and drank it down rapidly. Most of her powers had been lost. Despite the situation, Yukari had managed to at least make herself outwardly appear as normal.<p>

At that moment, a crow flew into the room from the open window. It landed on the table and set down a piece of paper it was carrying in its mouth.

Chen took the paper and read it over.

"What is it?" Ran asked.

"It's from Lord Tenma." She said. "He says to meet at the Myouren Temple tomorrow at noon. He wants to call a council of war."

* * *

><p><em>Okay. I just plain decided to have fun with this chapter. First of all, I wanted to give the devils some character, so enter Kulzu and Ialil. I don't know, maybe I'll add some more devil characters later on...<em>

_Chen and Ran's abilities are described as black magic. I have no idea what that really means so I just gave it my best guess and wrote whatever came to mind._

_I did pretty much the same thing with the Yukari-Vayne fight. A fight between reality warpers pretty much lets you let your imagination run wild._

_And finally I'm done with all the Visitation chapters.  
><em>

_That's all I have to say for now. If i think of anything else I'll edit it in. So please leave a review. _

_PLEASE _PLEASE __PLEASE __PLEASE __PLEASE __PLEASE __PLEASE _ *huff puff* _PLEASE __PLEASE __PLEASE __PLEASE _- okay i'll stop._

_Oh! The song that Chen is singing. /watch?v=FpOXJmp1RKw_

_And if you want to know where the title came from. /watch?v=bhBvNlEAS1k  
><em>

_Thanks for reading!_

_~Dragonexx  
><em>


	13. Preparations

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 13

Preparations

* * *

><p>Reimu awoke slowly, from dreams that hadn't made any sense. She sat up slowly and looked about. It was late in the morning, and the sun was already high in the sky. She sighed and dressed before leaving her room and heading into the kitchen, where she made a breakfast consisting of the few odd vegetables that were left in the fridge. She returned to the living room which was back to normal. The day after the gray man had left, Reimu had Suika take out all of his furniture and ornaments and smash them, something the drunken oni had been all too eager to do.<p>

Reimu sat down at the kotatsu and was surprised see Suika up and awake. Usually the oni remained passed out drunk until sometime in the afternoon, when she awoke, usually to look for more sake.

What was stranger, however, was that she wasn't drinking from her usual gourd, but instead from a glass bottle. When Suika set the bottle down, Reimu picked it up and examined it. It smelled like vodka. She looked at the logo on the bottle.

"This is some of the most expensive vodka in Gensokyo. How did you afford this?" She asked.

"Well -hic- you know I didn't have much money on my own. So I looked around, and then came -hic- across this box, sitting outside your -hic- house. There was a _ton _of money in there!" Suika slurred.

"You mean my donation box?" Reimu asked, calmly.

"Oh, was that -hic- what it was?" Suika asked.

"Yes… whatever." Reimu finished her food and then handed the vodka back to Suika.

She looked at the edge of the table, where stood Lord Tenma's letter, requesting her presence at the war council.

She was tempted to ignore it, but figured that if she did, Yukari would just gap her there regardless. She sighed, stood up and slid open the door.

They would be starting soon. It probably wouldn't do to be late. _I'll probably just make things worse… _She thought to herself as she took off.

* * *

><p>Suika watched as Reimu left. "No reaction at all." She observed.<p>

The little oni's heart filled with worry for her roommate. Despite her best efforts, nothing could shake Reimu out of her depression. Suika knew how important donations were to Reimu. Using the donations to buy booze had been a last ditch effort to get some sort of reaction out of the shrine maiden, whether it be yelling at her, or smashing the bottle, or even kicking her out. Instead she had gotten a great nothing.

Suika reached for the bottle. She was about to bring it to her lips when a strange feeling came over her. For perhaps the first time in Suika's life, she felt no urge to drink. She sat the bottle down on the table, and stood up. She then picked up Lord Tenma's letter and read it over. _The Myouren Temple huh?_

Suika stepped outside and took off, flying after Reimu. She couldn't be that far ahead. If stealing the donations hadn't done anything, then she would just have to try harder.

* * *

><p>Remilia waited outside the SDM. Despite her 500 plus years of life, she had never been the patient type. Adding to her annoyance was the fact that the sun was up and shining brightly. While direct sunlight didn't burn her, like most people thought, it still had a debilitating effect on her powers that Remilia would rather avoid.<p>

"Where is she?" Remilia asked. She looked at Meiling, who was waiting by the gate, still standing at attention. The vampire began to sympathize with the gate guard, and could now understood how boring the job usually was. _Perhaps once this is all over, I can find a reason to encourage more visitors to the manor._

"Probably still gathering some more books to bring along." Meiling answered. She stifled a yawn. Remilia noticed that her eyes were bloodshot, and she was struggling to stand.

"Have you slept at all?" Remilia asked.

"I can't. What if something else happens?" Meiling worried.

Remilia sighed. "It's just like we said before. The break-in would have happened were you alert or not. That demon is just too strong for you. Go inside, and get some sleep."

"But…"

"There are plenty of others who can fill your position while you're gone." Remilia said. "If the enemy actually does show up again, you won't be any help in your current condition. Now get some sleep, that's an order."

"Thank you, milady." Meiling bowed and then departed into the manor.

As she entered the mansion, Remilia saw Patchouli and Sakuya exit.

"What took you so long?" Remilia demanded.

"I _died _last night." Patchouli sighed. "It was only to Byakuren's efforts that I was able to reform this quickly. Cut me some slack will you?"

"Whatever." Remilia said. "Sakuya, remain here."

"Milady?"

"You need to recover as well." Remilia said. "The potions Patchouli made will help, but only if you rest."

"But you-"

"I know your worried, but someone has to stop that raven from eating every scrap of food in the house." She said with a smile. Satori and Orin had already left for the temple, as had its owner, Byakuren, leaving the gluttonous Utsuho behind.

"Yes, Milady." Sakuya said. She bowed and returned to the SDM.

Finally Remilia turned around and looked across the lake towards the human village. "Shall we?"

"We shall." Patchouli said.

The both of them took off, flying towards the Myouren Temple.

* * *

><p>Vincent and Hotaru flew across the wide grassy plains between the Ash Mountains and human territory. Six months ago, this entire land had been transformed into a desert, as per the desert spell. Now (to Vincent's annoyance) it was back to normal. Hotaru flew in her human form, however her brother remained in his true, draconic form.<p>

"Brother, must you?" Hotaru asked.

"Must I what?" Vincent asked, his voice deep and rumbling.

"Can you please turn into your human form?" She asked.

"Why should I? There's no room to transform back at home since most of the tunnels collapsed, and I was getting cramped in that form."

"Were going to the human village."

"Yeah, there's a thing called making an entrance." Vincent said. He inhaled, and let lose a short burst of fire.

"Brother, I've been working on improving relations with the humans. If we go there like this, it will just cause trouble."

"So?" Vincent snorted, and twin jets of fire shot out of his nostrils. "A little trouble's no big deal. We have a reputation to keep up, you recall."

"Vincent," Hotaru sighed. "I know your upset about what happened. I am too."

"You don't get it? Do you?" Vincent asked.

"Don't get what?"

"It's not just that," Vincent said. "We haven't even lived there a year, and it's already ruined. Didn't we leave the human world because we wanted to avoid these kinds of things?"

"True, but don't you realize that were still better off here that out there? First of all, this realm is so strong in magic. It's what even allowed me to call those fire elementals which I used to fuel the desert spell last winter."

"Yes," Vincent said, "but we wouldn't even have to worry about that back in the human world. Where we lived, it was hot all year round!"

"And yet the humans were building on the mountains where we lived. We couldn't remain there much longer."

"Must we give everything up to these humans? Were _dragons _for Bahumut's sake. Those puny weaklings were no match for us!"

"True, but Father always said not to fight unless it was absolutely necessary."

"Dad's dead." Vincent said flatly.

"Yes…" Hotaru said. "But shouldn't we at least try to honor his memory?"

Vincent flew in silence for a while. Beneath them, the flat plains gradually became farmland. A few humans below pointed up in shock and fear. Vincent sighed, releasing a large cloud of smoke. The smoke surrounded him and when it faded, Vincent had returned to his human form.

"Thank you." Hotaru said sincerely. "Now let's hurry, were running late."

* * *

><p>Nazrin waited outside the temple alongside Koyukuk, greeting guests as they appeared. Lord Tenma was among the first to arrive.<p>

The leader of the tengu was a tall man, with the typical long nose and pointed ears that most tengu shared. He had shoulder-length hair, and was clean shaven. His wings were larger than most tengu and currently, they were folded across his back.

He wore a white shirt, and black pants, and didn't wear any hat. He wore a katana at his side, in addition to a fan shaped like a maple leaf.

"Welcome to Myouren Temple!" Kyouko said, cheerful as always. "How are you sir?"

"Fine" Tenma's face retained its serious expression. He had come to discuss a way to combat the enemy, not socialize.

Though he had called the meeting, several people had gotten there ahead of him. Ichirin and Shou (Having left the Ash Mountains earlier than the dragons) were busy setting up tables in the main room. Satori and Rin were waiting by the side, apparently in discussion on their own.

Nitori Kawashiro sat in a corner by herself, fiddling around with some device that looked like it had come from the outside world. She gave no indication of noticing that Tenma had entered.

In another corner sat Tenshi and Iku. Tenshi's eyes were red, looking like she had been crying. Iku held her hand, and looked as if she was attempting to soothe her.

Strangely (and alarmingly), Yuuka Kazami was there. She leaned back in one of the chairs, an amused smile on her face. Lord Tenma had not invited her, nor would he have wished her presence. However, even he wasn't about to tell the flower youkai that.

Tenma sat down in a chair, and waited patiently for the others to arrive.

He did not have to wait long. Reimu and Suika arrived just after he did. Reimu plopped down into the chair, and stared off into space, not appearing to care what was going on. Meanwhile, in almost an exact opposite, Suika rushed around the room, eagerly greeting everyone, even Yuuka.

Tenma looked around expectantly, but was apparently disappointed. He turned to Reimu and asked. "Where is Sanae Kotiya?"

"How the hell should I know?" Reimu asked. "I thought she was with you?"

"Me? Why would she be with me?" Tenma asked.

"She was headed back to Moriya Shrine, last I saw her."

"Then she might as well be dead." Tenma said.

Reimu sighed, and didn't bother to ask any further questions.

Meanwhile, Iku gasped. "Why? What happened?"

"Several guards found the Moriya Shrine infested with the monsters. They managed to win, but there was no sign of Sanae anywhere."

_Great, _Reimu thought. _Another death that's my fault._

* * *

><p>Khin-Oin, was an ancient and legendary tower. Normally it towered over Oinos, the first layer of the Gray Waste, and gave the towers master control over that layer. Here, such was the towers magical power, it had already begun to transform the area around it. The land had become gray and colorless in a steadily expanding circle. Thick fogs surrounded the entire area, blocking any long distance sight.<p>

The normally clear waters of the river that ran through the valley had become black, appearing very much like an oil slick. Kanna strode past this river, watching fish dying as they choked on the evil waters. She smiled at the sight. Everything was going according to plan. With the manifestation of the Well of Darkness and the Wasting Tower, a tributary of the River Styx, the dark river that flowed through each of the lower planes had appeared in this realm.

Kanna kept a safe distance from the river, knowing how dangerous even a single drop of the river could be. Even the briefest of exposures to the water could erase recent memories. Prolonged exposure, could in fact erase all of the victims memories. Not even fiends were immune to this effect, save for a few rare breeds that made their homes in the dark waters. However, even among these creatures, the vast majority of them had been driven mad from viewing all of the rivers stolen memories.

Kanna came to the main gate of the Tower, where two dergholoths stood guard. These creatures were beetle-like in appearance, having thick shells over their body. They had three legs, two in the front and one in the back, and there were five arms protruding from all sides of their round bodies.

As Kanna approached, the two daemons blocked her path.

"You no come in." Said one of them.

"Move aside." Kanna commanded.

The two daemons did not move and repeated. "You no come in."

"I was invited here for the meeting!" Kanna said, becoming irritated. "Move aside."

"You no come in."

"Listen you imbeciles." Kanna hissed. Electricity began to crackle across her fingertips. "I'm going in one way or another. If you don't move aside, then I'll just-"

"You no co-urrgh!" One of the dergholoths suddenly jerked, and then fell over with a crash. The creatures back was burned black, and smoke curled from it as the air filled with the scent of burning flesh.

The dergholoths companion stared dumbly at the dying creature, watching as its body dispersed, becoming a dark cloud that eventually faded away.

"That will be quite enough." Said a voice.

Kanna turned towards the entrance while the daemons head turned backwards. Standing there was Alcain Fem'Att, his hand outstretched, and flames dying in his palm.

The remaining dergholoth knelt down (rather awkwardly, considering its three legs) as Alcain walked past.

"Boss! Me-" The dergholoth was cut short as Alcain gestured, and a spike of earth shot up, piercing straight through the fiends neck. It slumped, held up only by the spike as black blood ran down its length. The fiend gurgled and choked, flailing it's limbs. Alcain gestured again, and the spike shot back into the earth. The dergholoth fell to the ground, and shortly afterwards its body disappeared in a cloud of shadows.

Alcain reached Kanna and bowed. "Sorry you had to see that Lady Kanna." The arcanaloth said. "Good labor can be so hard to find these days. Now if you'll follow me, we can get to the council."

"You're leaving the front gate unguarded?"

"It matters little, there are stronger guards inside anyways, and that's all we need at this point.

* * *

><p>For the first time in tens of thousands of years, three of the four fiendish races were meeting in council. The fourth, the gehreleths were not welcome anywhere, confined to their home plane of Carceri.<p>

Kanna didn't have high hopes for this meeting, and kept herself ready for combat at the drop of a hat. She was well justified, as among fiends, violence could spring up from the tiniest of things, or even for no reason at all. The last time the races met had been in an effort to end the Blood War, a war between baatezu and tanar'ri that had been raging ever since the two races had first met. At the meeting, early on a demon had sat in a devils chair and refused to move, triggering a brawl that ended up killing everyone present.

Khin-Oin's meeting hall was an enormous room that seemed far larger than the width of the tower. The ceiling was incredibly tall, and one corner of the room was shrouded in a darkness that even Kanna's fiendish eyes couldn't penetrate. There were various scorch marks and bloodstains across the floor, walls, and even the ceiling. Some were old and some looked recent, implying that even debates among the Wasting Towers normal occupants, the yugoloths, rarely ended without having seen some sort of violence.

The meeting room was crowded, filled with a huge variety of fiends. Kanna's eyes were first drawn to Kyreth and the vampire Flandre sitting next to her. As she looked them over, Kanna stifled a laugh. Both Kyreth's left horn and her left hand were missing, giving her a lopsided appearance.

Kyreth must have heard her, because immediately she stood up and stomped over to her. "You like it? Perhaps I can do the same to you!" She threatened, raising her remaining hand.

Flames danced along Kanna's finger tips. "Go ahead then! Try it!"

Alcain immediately jumped in between the two women. "Hold it. We're here to talk, not fight. Save the violence for after we've completed our objectives."

Kanna and Kyreth stared at each other for a bit longer before both turned away at the same time, and headed towards their seats. Alcain did the same, and when he sat down he reached into one of his pouches, and pulled out a full size book that clearly only fit inside it with the aid of magic. He opened it up to a blank page and then began writing in it, a faint smile on his canine lips.

Flandre watched from her seat, feeling slightly guilty. "I'm sorry, Kyreth." She said as the demon sat back down.

"Sorry for what?" Kyreth asked.

"I couldn't break big sis, and then instead I ended up breaking your hand instead. And now you're mad at your friend."

"Don't worry about it, Flan-dear." Kyreth said. "Besides, she's not my friend anyways."

"She isn't?"

"No, I just tagged along with them so I could play here. And don't worry about Remilia, I have a feeling we'll be seeing her again shortly."

* * *

><p>Kanna leaned back in her seat. She was getting tired of waiting. There were a few others that were supposed to show up and one should have already been here.<p>

"It's his tower! Why in the Nine Hells isn't he here?" Kanna asked herself.

At that moment, a glowing portal opened on the wall. Out stepped five beings. Two of them were women dressed in elegant, Victorian style dresses. They had horns and long tails, ending in serpent heads that moved about, hissing.

Another had short blonde hair and wore a blue dress. She kept her eyes on the ground, and looked rather upset.

Kanna smiled upon observing the fourth figure, a girl with long blonde hair. She wore a long black dress and white apron, full of pockets most likely containing all sorts of magical items. On her head was a wide brimmed witches hat. It was-

"MARISSAAAAAAA!" Shouted a voice.

Kanna turned in shock to see Flandre's eyes and wings light up. She leaped out of her seat and flew towards the witch, embracing her in a tackle-hug.

"What the-" Marissa was slammed against the ground, while the excited little vampire sat on her chest.

"Marissa! It's you! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Gah! Flandre? What are you doing here?"

While Marissa attempted to get the hyperactive Flandre off of her Kanna stood up and approached the fifth figure. She was a tall woman with silver hair, done in a side ponytail. She dressed simply, wearing only a red robe. Despite the simple appearance, Kanna could sense the massive amount power she contained.

Kanna nodded to the goddess. "Shinki."

"So we meet again." Shinki greeted.

"I was wondering if you had gotten my message."

"I did, though I also had some other matters to deal with as well. I did complete your request, if that's what you're wondering. And goodness, you certainly did some damage to her."

Shinki gestured to Marissa, still attempting to wrestle Flandre off of her. Kanna noticed several distinct changes in the witch. The most obvious was that her right hand was gone, replaced with a red devils hand. The sclera of her eyes was now black, and the pupils were yellow. Black lines ran from her eyes and down to her neck. On the sides of her arms were numerous runes written in ink (or at least what appeared to be ink).

"Well done," Kanna said. "But I do wonder. What were those other things you had to take care of?"

"Just a few family matters." Shinki said with a smile. She placed her hand on Alice's shoulder. Alice flinched at the touch and backed away, trembling and gripping her doll, her eyes filled with fear.

Kanna ignored this, and looked about. "Wasn't there supposed to be another coming with you?"

"I am here, devil."

Kanna turned and saw another figure standing behind her. This figure wore scale like armor, and had a sheathe, but there was no sword within it. Her face was covered in a mask that strangely had no eye or mouth holes, being a blank plate. From underneath the armor, smoke constantly billowed out.

"Excellent." Alcain said, ceasing his writing. "Now that everyone is here, we can begin."

* * *

><p>Zeri growled and tossed another book into the air. There she extended her hand, and a bolt of flame shot out burning the book to ashes.<p>

"Romance novels! All of them romance novels! What in the Abyss does that witch spend her time doing in there?"

She set fire to another book and kicked it away.

"Hey, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Grabbing a bunch of books off of the top of a desk without looking at what they were was a genius idea." Ayon said sarcastically. She lifted one of the books with her tail. "_Tale of the Seamen?"_

Zeri set fire to that book as well, before hurling it out a window, adding to the already large amount of broken windows in Chireiden.

"Hey, I might have wanted to read that!" Ayon said.

"Shouldn't you be dealing with the youkai in the city?" Zeri said, growing more irritated.

Ayon leaned back against the wall. "They're all gone. The city is ours, the survivors having entrenched themselves in the distant tunnels. With our limited forces, it would be too costly to pursue them. So here I am, nothing to do. Maybe I'll go torture some of the prisoners again…"

"Well screw this!" Zeri stood up and kicked her chair into a wall. "I'm going back."

"You'll get your ass kicked." Ayon said.

"Why would I? I won, don't you remember? Or did your defeat at the hands of the dragons addle what little brains you have?"

"Yeah you won, because the witch underestimated you. Something she's not likely to do again. If you go back in there she'll obliterate you. And don't even get me started on Remilia. She's a vampire lord, head of the scarlet clan, and three hundred years your senior. Were you to go head to head, you'd be beaten easily."

"Why Ayon." Zeri said. She placed her hand on the wall, leaning towards Ayon, her face bearing wicked smile. "From your tone of speech, I would think you almost cared what happened to me."

"Don't get your hopes up, mortal." Ayon said, "I want you alive, because it so pleases Kyreth for me to do so."

"You just keep telling yourself that." Zeri said, "The truth is you just can't resist my natural charms."

"You just keep telling _yourself _that." Ayon answered. "You aren't any succubus."

There was silence for a while, which was suddenly broken by Zeri turning to the table and setting the entire thing ablaze. "Dark gods, I'm bored.

"There are those prisoners."

"Yeah, go ahead, I'll catch up."

Ayon left the room, heading towards the palace's dungeons. Meanwhile Zeri paced the room. She stopped at the broken window, and looked at the fires of Former Hell.

She didn't want to admit it, but she kind of missed Flandre. She so rarely got to see others of her own kind, and when she did, it was usually as enemies. She sighed. The prisoners could wait. Zeri headed back into the room she had been forced to share with Flandre. There she lay on her bed, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Yuyuko and Youmu appeared at the temple after a short while. The two of them calmly took their seats.<p>

"I told you were weren't running late, Youmu." Yuyuko said with a smile. The ghost princess floated over to Reimu to greet her. "It's been so long Reimu. How have you been?"

"Fine…" Reimu said, and then turned away, staring blankly at the wall.

"Is something wrong?" Yuyuko asked.

"Just let her be." Suika said. "We'll probably get to that later."

At that moment, there was a shout from the entrance.

"Kneel lesser beings! The Lord of Summer Flame has arrived!"

"Brother, please, keep your voice down."

"It's called making an entrance."

"Do we really need to do that?"

"Well I wanted to smash the front wall down, but _nooo! _Public relations and all that nonsense."

"Brother please, they can probably hear us!"

"Good! Let them fear the Lord of Summer Flame!"

"Will you stop calling yourself that?"

"You dare defy the Lord of- OW!"

Suika perked up immediately. She rushed towards the entrance, where Vincent and Hotaru were arguing. She embraced Vincent in a bear hug. "Vincent!"

"Gah! Oni! Your… crushing… me…" Vincent struggled to escape, but not even a dragon could match an oni for sheer strength.

Suika finally let go of Vincent and fell to the ground. "Thank Bahamut." Vincent said, breathing heavily. "Thought I was really going to die that time."

"Hello Vincent. Nice to see you again after so long."

Everyone turned, to see that Yuuka had stood up and walked over to the dragons.

"Oh hello, I-" Vincent's greeting was cut short upon noticing her. Both siblings visibly paled at the sight of Yuuka. "F-f-flower youkai? W-w-w-what are you d-d-doing here?" Vincent stuttered.

"Oh, I just heard on the grapevine that everyone was having a little get-together here. It looked like it would be such fun! I didn't receive any invite, but that must have been a mistake, wasn't it?" She turned to Tenma, who also paled. He remained silent for a while before finally trusting himself to speak calmly.

"The fault is entirely my own, Miss Kazami." He said at last.

"All is forgiven." She said with a smile. Yuuka then turned back to Vincent and held out her hand. "The oni can sometimes be unaware of her own strength. You are okay, aren't you dear?"

Vincent backed away until he was against the wall.

Yuuka looked at Hotaru. "And it's so pleasant to see you as well, Miss Hotaru."

"The p-p-pleasure is all mine, flower youkai." Hotaru stuttered.

"We really should get together some time, and catch up on things."

"S-s-sure. I'd be d-delighted to." Hotaru said, attempting to smile, and failing miserably.

"Well then, come now, there are two seats open near me." Yuuka returned to her seat, the dragons siblings following behind her.

Everyone was silent. Some looked on in amusement, glad to see the dragon siblings terrified of something for once. Most of them just tried to avoid Yuuka's gaze.

It was finally Byakuren who broke the silence. "Well everyone's almost here. Were just missing Princess Kaguya and Yukari."

At that moment, a gap opened up on the ceiling, revealing that mysterious realm of grasping hands and staring eyes. Everyone looked at it expectantly, but it remained where it was, nothing exiting it.

"Is something wrong?" Remilia asked. "Shouldn't she have come out by now?"

"I don't know." Byakuren said.

Yuyuko flew up towards the portal, examining it. At that moment, Yukari came falling out of it. Instinctively, Yuyuko went intangible, allowing Yukari to pass through her harmlessly.

Yukari hit the ground with a crash and groaned.

"What the hell?" Remilia asked. "Are you okay?"

"Probably drunk," Orin said.

"Doesn't smell like it." Hotaru commented.

"Milady, I said to wait for us!" Ran's voice shouted from within the gap. Both she and Chen descended from within, and the gap closed behind them.

Ran knelt down next to Yukari and attempted to help her up.

"I'm fine!" Yukari said, and slapped away Ran's hand. She stood up herself and limped over to an open chair. Ran and Chen followed behind her.

"Well, now were just missing Kaguya." Byakuren said.

"What's taking her so long?" Remilia asked. "I would have expected her to be among the first ones here. Anyone have an idea where she might be?"

"Not a-" Byakuren was cut short by a loud cawing coming from outside. There was a tapping sound at the window. Everyone turned to see a crow pecking at the glass.

"Most likely for me." Tenma said.

Byakuren opened the window, and the crow flew towards Tenma, landing on his outstretched hand. The two of them held a brief conversation after which the crow flew back out the way it had come.

"Well that's not good…" Tenma said.

"What? What happened?" Remilia asked.

"Well it appears Princess Kaguya won't be joining us. Nor anyone from Eientei."

"They're refusing to help?" Ran asked.

"No. There was nobody there. The place was deserted. Not a soul there."

"Could they have been attacked?" Patchy asked.

"No, there were no signs of any battle."

"Should we go look for them?" Yuyuko asked.

"No. We're all here already. Let's just get started. Where ever they are, I'm sure they can handle themselves." Ran advised.

"Very well then." Tenma said. He spoke louder. "Leaders of Gensokyo. I have called you here today to bring to issue a dire threat to Gensokyo. These monsters-"

"Baatezu." Hotaru interrupted.

Tenma glared at her, before continuing. "These baatezu-"

"Don't forget the tanar'ri, and most likely now the yugoloth." Vincent added.

"Are you done?" Tenma asked.

"For now, tengu." Vincent said.

"These …creatures… have invaded our land, razing cities, and killing anything that stands in their way. The reason for this meetings has already been said. The only course of action now is for us to declare war on this enemy. Before we get into any specifics, are there any questions?"

At this, Yuyuko raised her hand. "Um… I was under the impression that there would be refreshments here. Where are they?"

"_There's food at this thing_?" Vincent exclaimed.

Immediately everyone began talking at once, trying to make their voice heard over the others.

"Do you have any fish?" Chen asked.

"Fried tofu, please." Ran said.

"If you have any cucumbers, that would be nice…" Nitori said, looking up from her device for the first time.

"Any meat is fine with me." Hotaru said.

"No! We're here to discuss a course of action, not to snack!" Tenma exclaimed, but of course everyone ignored him.

"I think we have some cheese in the kitchen." Nazrin suggested.

"Just tea, please." Yukari asked.

"The same." Satori added.

"Anything but fried beans." Suika said.

"I'm not hungry." Tenshi muttered.

"Some peaches would be okay, I guess." Iku said. "You have to eat something Eldest Daughter."

"I could go for a bit of fruit, myself." Yuuka said.

Tenma slapped his hand over his face and groaned. He was starting to regret calling this council. Why was it that every other leader in Gensokyo was so easily distracted?

Byakuren placed her hand on the tengu boss's back. "Don't worry." She said with a smile. "I saw this coming. After all, it is lunchtime. Ichirin, would you get the food out of the kitchen?"

Lord Tenma sighed. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>"I say we concentrate our forces on finally taking that city of humans next." A nalfeshnee suggested<p>

"If we extend our forces that far out, we'll only be leaving ourselves vulnerable to attack." A cornugron said. "Or are you tanar'ri as stupid as you look?"

"What? Come here and say that to my face!" The warthog-headed nalfeshnee shouted, standing up.

"Don't have to. You're repulsiveness is enough to nauseate everyone in this room, even at this distance."

Claws were unsheathed, and weapons drawn for perhaps the eighth time in the last ten minutes."

Kanna sighed. Unlike her husband, she had no patience for these sorts of things. But she figured, at least with her husband currently recovering, she would have to make an effort.

"Before we start killing each other, can we at least come up with our own course of action." Kanna stood up. "Like the cornugron suggested, an attack on the human village would be a bad course of action at this point. Sending our forces that far out would merely leave the Tower and the Well vulnerable to attack, now that the tengu are most likely organized and ready to fight."

"Well what are you suggesting," the nalfeshnee snarled.

"We bring Youkai Mountain completely under our control before we move elsewhere." Kanna said.

"So you're suggesting we attack the tengu and kappa cities?"

"No. Not at this moment. For now we focus on defense."

"I get it!" Kyreth said, a smirk on her face. "You're just too afraid to take action, now that your so-called great leader is out of commission."

"What? How dare you!" Kanna shouted.

"That's it! I've hit it right on the mark, haven't I?" Kyreth said, triumphant.

"You're nowhere near close, you chaotic wretch!"

"Arrogant lawful, bitch!" Kyreth stood up.

"Screw this! I've been wanting to teach you a lesson for a long time! I don't know what my husband was thinking, bringing a tanar'ri lord into this!" Kanna's hand began to glow.

Devils, daemons and demons began shouting at one another, and some leaped atop the tables, prepared to fight. Several dolls appeared around Alice, and Marissa drew her Hakkero. Flandre formed the Lævateinn in her hands, and Kyreth flexed her remaining claw.

"_Enough!" _Shinki's voice rang out across the entire room, sounding not only to their ears, but booming in their minds as well. All combatants returned to their seats, gripping their heads.

"Excellent." Shinki said, once everyone was seated again. "Now that I have your attention. I'd like to at least talk about Kanna's plan."

"Very well." Alcain said, still smiling.

"I agree with Kanna, we should focus on defense."

"We have the power to attack! Why in the Abyss should we listen to you?" Kyreth asked.

"Because, it was by my hand that you fiends were even able to enter Gensokyo in the first place!"

That shut everyone up.

"It is true that we have immense power. But it falls to us to use it in the right ways. We don't attack them physically, we attack them psychologically." Shinki said.

"What do you mean?"

"I sent my own forces to attack this land once before, and only now do I realize what a mistake that was. Ordinarily the majority of the various races that inhabit Gensokyo stay aloof of one another at the best of times, enemies or rivals at the worst. However, pose a big enough threat, and they will band together, as they did then, and are most likely doing now. Humans, celestials and youkai would form a temporary truce, working together until the enemy has been defeated."

"So, what's your point. If they're already banding together as you said, what are we supposed to do? Roll over and piss ourselves? Wait for them to put us all in the dead-book?"

"What I'm suggesting is that we put everything into our defenses for the time being and become like a wall of adamantine. The appearance of the Tower and the Well will make prime targets for them to attack. Let them come, and let them tear themselves to pieces on our defenses. When they see that even their best efforts end in defeat, when they realize that all their powers are meaningless against the forces of the lower planes, it will crush not only their bodies, but their spirits as well. That's when we go on the offensive, when their morale is low, they won't stand a chance. However, more importantly, they will _believe _us to be unstoppable. That belief, combined with the vast amount of magic this plane contains, shall send us to even greater heights of power than ever before."

"That's the most-" Kyreth was suddenly interrupted by another voice.

"_It is a satisfactory plan." _The voice was barely more than a whisper, but it could be heard throughout the entire room.

Kanna turned to the dark corner of the room, where the voice was coming from. Out from the shadows stepped a hideous creature. It stood on two legs, but it had a rams head, horribly ravaged by disease. It's face was covered in boils and weeping sores. Sections of its skin were dead and rotting and in other areas the flesh had outright fallen off, revealing muscle and bone beneath.

This was the ruler of Khin-Oin, the Oinoloth, Anthraxus, Lord of Disease. He spoke in a voice that was raspy and coughing. "_It is settled then. The yugoloth shall defend the Tower. I can trust that we'll have the cooperation of the baatezu on that point?"_

"You will." Kanna said.

Anthraxus turned to Kyreth. "_Then all that is left is for the tanar'ri to defend the Well."_

"Fuck this!" Kyreth said. "I hate waiting around for the enemy to come to us! You'll have my forces around the well if you want, but I'm going home!"

"But-" Flandre started.

"You're coming with me, Flandre."

"Why? I want to…"

"Or would you rather try to break your sister again?"

Flandre remained silent at this, before lowering her head and muttering. "No, Kyreth..."

"That's a good girl." Kyreth said. "Now come! There's much to see at the Blood Carnival!" She wrapped her arm around Flandre and a black circle appeared beneath them. The two sank down into it, and the circle disappeared behind them.

"We'll that went poorly." Shinki observed. "We need someone of power to defend the well. I'll try and talk to her, but it's not very high on my priorities. I have the gods and goddesses of Gensokyo to deal with after all."

"Bah… I'll defend it." Kanna said.

"You will?"

"I have a feeling that the real fight will be down there." Kanna gestured and an imp flew over to her, landing on her outstretched hand.

"I'll leave command of the baatezu forces above in the hands of General Galthera. Tell him that, will you?"

After that, Kanna headed over to Marissa and Alice.

"You two have your orders, return to your home and be ready when I call you."

She gestured and a black circle appeared on the ground next to them.

* * *

><p>Alice had sat quiet the entire meeting, only acting when it had looked like the debate might erupt into violence. Thankfully, her mother had swiftly put an end to that. She sighed, as she stepped into the portal. It let out in the living room of her home.<p>

"Hey," Marissa asked. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Though it was at this moment that she realized she hadn't stopped trembling the entire time.

"You don't look-"

"I'm fine!" Alice said, irritated.

"Okay. Well, I'm going to go take a nap." Marissa said, and she collapsed on the couch, and was quickly asleep.

Alice made her way over to her workbench and sat down Hourai. She held her head in her hands and spoke aloud.

"What a mess…" She moved her fingers and Hourai stood up and walked over to Alice, patting her arm.

"_It's a good thing we didn't bring Shanghai with us, mistress."_

"Yes, I suppose it is. I didn't want to expose her to all this."

"_Yes, it would have been traumatizing for her." _Hourai said. "_Fortunately for you, you're brave, clever, fearle-"_

"Please, let's not go there now, I don't feel like it."

"_What's wrong?" _Hourai asked.

"It's just... Should I really be here? Am I doing the right thing?"

"_Well what do you think is right?"_

"I don't know. Marissa seems to want this."

"_I didn't ask about Marissa, what I want to know is what you think." _Hourai said.

"I don't know. Mother says it's who I am."

"_I asked you, not Shinki."_

"Well what do you think?"

"_How should I know?" _Hourai asked. _"I'm just a doll."_

"Well I don't know what to think!" Alice shouted. Marissa stirred on the couch, and she lowered her voice. "Who asked _you _anyways?"

"_You did, mistress. It's the only reason I'm talking in the first place."_

Alice snarled and grabbed Hourai, hurling the doll against a wall, where she sank to the ground, lifeless once more.

Alice collapsed back to the table, and began to cry. _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

><p>Nitori ate her cucumber in silence, watching the council from afar. Right now, they were discussing whether to attack the Well or the Tower.<p>

Unlike the other races of Gensokyo, the kappa had no real leader. Most kappa were too absorbed in their crafts to care much about such things. In fact, the only reason they had a city at all was for its convenience as a place to work, and possibly, simply because all the others did.

When a situation arose that required leadership, the kappa usually deferred to the tengu. In the rare incident when an actual leader of the kappa was needed, they simply elected one of their own to represent them.

Nitori was beginning to realize that perhaps the only reason the other kappa had chosen her was so that none of them would have to do it. The position wasn't well liked, as it meant being interrupted from their own work. If she had actually gone to that meeting in the town square, she probably wouldn't be in this situation right now, and could have been back home, happily trying to figure out how some outside world device called a "motorcycle" worked.

Instead, she was stuck with some strange plastic device she had bought from Rinnosuke. He had said it could contain a vast amount music within it, but Nitori had opened it up and found nothing inside.

She gave up on the device, and placed it in her pocket. She looked next to her to see Tenshi, who had barely spoken. A sudden curiosity came over her.

"Hey? How come you're here instead of your parents?" Nitori asked.

Tenshi suddenly began crying again.

"What?" Nitori immediately regretted asking.

"They're dead!" Tenshi suddenly shouted, and fell over onto the table, sobbing.

Everyone suddenly stopped talking.

"Whose dead now?" Ran asked.

Iku stood up. "Tenshi's mother and father were murdered last night." She announced.

"What? How?"

"We don't know exactly, but the best it looks like is some sort of assassin. Tenshi found their corpses in their bedroom this morning.

Iku went on to describe the gruesome scene. Their killer had been vicious, and their bodies had been covered in a large amount of stab wounds. Finally the killer had severed their heads and taken them.

"Well this just goes to show that we need to end this invasion here and now, I say we attack them head on, and level that damned tower to the ground." Tenma said

"A head on attack? Do you think we really have the forces for that?" Hotaru asked.

"What do you mean?" Tenma asked.

"Where are your engines of war? Where are yours standing armies? Gensokyo has no such things!" Hotaru said. "Sure there are the tengu guards, and the human youkai hunters, but powerful as they are, can they really stand up to the forces of the lower planes?"

"Of course they can! The tengu aren't to be trifled with."

"Yes, that is true, your mastery of the winds is rivaled only by the air elementals and the djinn, but even so, it may not be enough."

"What are you talking about?" Yukari asked.

"What I'm saying is these creatures are capable of fielding armies numbering in the _millions._"

"So what you're saying is that we don't stand a chance." Reimu said, hopelessly.

"Not necessarily," Satori said.

"What?" Iku asked.

"I managed to piece the information together from the minds of several fiends, and I've been mulling it over ever since. True the lower planes may be able to let lose such massive armies, but it's doubtful we'll see such a vast number. From what I've gathered, this entire invasion is merely the work of a small group of fiends, like the personal army of a noble of sorts."

"Everything that's happened so far is just the work of a few peoples personal forces? That's crazy!"

"No it makes perfect sense." Hotaru said.

"How so?" Ran asked.

"What you have to understand is that the Inner and Outer Planes are infinite in size. Therefore things can and do operate on a far larger scale. Mountains stretch many hundreds or even thousands of times higher than they do her on earth. Caverns can be miles in diameter. Cities can be as large as a continent would be here. Even their own buildings can be many square miles in size. Take Khin-Oin for example. The tower you see here is only a very small manifestation of its true form. On Oinos, the tower stands some twenty miles tall and extends some twenty miles beneath the ground."

"Wow." Suika commented.

"So we know the scale thing's operate on." Youmu said. "Even if all that happened so far has been only the work of some minor army, how do we fight them if were so completely outnumbered?"

"What if we asked the upper planes for help?" Vincent suggested.

"I'd rather not if we can avoid it." Hotaru said.

"Why not? I can imagine they'd be perfectly willing to help us."

"They would, but would this realm survive the battle?"

"Would it survive? What do you mean?"

"Yukari, as the creator of this plane, you must understand this. As I have already said, the Inner and Outer Planes are infinite in size, meaning that the armies are on a scale far greater than most mortal armies. The forces of the upper planes would be all too willing to aid us, but the vast numbers of the heavenly host would encourage the fiends to call up reinforcements of their own from their home planes. And then we would have a full scale war, which would destroy the delicate balance of this land. We might win, but then we'd be left with nothing but ruins, especially since fiends, mainly demons, commonly employ scorched earth tactics. We might never be able to rebuild."

"So… no help from Above." Tenma said.

"Who said that was the truth?" Tenshi's said suddenly. She looked up and dried her tears. "We of Bhava-Agra are celestials as well. We might not number fairly high, but now that I'm the leader, I can certainly guarantee that we'll do our part to help."

"Eldest Daughter, are you sure?" Iku said.

"Yeah, I've been thinking, there's no use crying about it, I want to kill the bastards who did this to mom and dad."

"The kappa will do their parts as well!" Nitori spoke up. "We do have a wide variety of outside world weaponry available."

"The same, we of the Ash Mountains will of course be participating. They collapsed my lair and I can't reach my treasure hoard anymore. They'll pay for that one!"

"I have already said the tengu will be attacking the tower regardless."

"What were we all worried about before?" Suika cheered. "Look, we have Yukari on our side! The enemy doesn't stand a chance. And even then, we could just get Yuyuko to use her death powers on them! Right?"

"Wrong." Satori said.

"What?" Suika asked.

"I guess now's as good a time as any to tell all of you." Yukari sighed.

She closed her eyes, and the enchantments altering her appearance were ended. Everyone gasped at Yukari's current form as an old hag.

"Wow… I was wondering why it smelled like old lady in here." Vincent said.

"Brother!" Hotaru said.

"I mean they're probably all saggy and- OW!" Hotaru struck Vincent over the head, slamming him into the table.

"Whoa! What happened!" Orin asked.

"I fought with their leader, that fallen angel, Vayne."

"And he did this to you?" Remilia asked.

"But, you're a youkai." Patchouli said. "Youkai don't age. How is this possible?"

"I'll try to explain." Yukari related the fallen angels plans and then their battle, ending with how he had thrown her into a strange black void. "Don't think it all bad," She said with a laugh. "From what I saw, the angel is in even worse shape than I am."

"So they're out to steal away all of Gensokyo's magic. What will they do if they succeed?" Byakuren asked.

"Most likely kill most of us and enslave the survivors." Hotaru said.

"On another subject, what was that place that did this to Miss Yukari?" Chen asked.

"That must have been the Negative Energy Plane. Negative energy is a force that drains the life forces of all living creatures it comes into contact with. It'll wear off, but not in the amount of time we have." Vincent said, clutching his head and wincing in pain. "Which sucks, because there goes one of our best assets. OW! I didn't mean it like that, sister!"

"Both of them in fact." Patchouli said.

"What? What do you mean?" Vincent asked, after lifting his head from the table again, now nursing a second bump.

"I highly doubt that Yuyuko's powers over death will work."

"Yuyuko-sama's powers are as great as-" Yuyuko placed her hand on Youmu's shoulder.

"No, let her explain."

"I will. The idea came to me when Hotaru mentioned the word mortal, implying that these fiends are something else. Yuyuko's power is to invoke death in mortals, meaning that it most likely will have no effect on these beings. Am I right?"

Hotaru frowned. "Yes, I believe you are. These fiends are not mortal creatures. They are living ideas. Evil, greed, tyranny and senseless violence given flesh and blood to walk around in and they exist to spread that philosophy across the vast multiverse. Put into more practical terms, they are something like youkai, meaning that it's difficult to kill them off for good. If they are killed anywhere but their home plane, their spirits simply travel back there and over a period of time, reform and return, much the same. If they're killed on their home plane, they're gone for good, barring the use of powerful magic to bring them back."

Reimu sighed. "So what your saying is that everything we've done up to this point is meaningless. In the end we'll all die. Perhaps Keine, Sanae, Parsee and Marissa were the lucky ones, leaving early to avoid the rush."

"Gods!" Yukari exclaimed. "Will you quit that?"

"Quit what?" Reimu asked.

"That entire self-pitying act. Their deaths weren't your fault, so stop blaming yourself for them. I know for certain that your mother or grandmother or great-grandmother or any of your ancestors wouldn't let something like this get in the way of their duties. Or are you worthy of being Gensokyo's shrine maiden. Are you even worthy of the Hakurei name? Your ancestors must be so disappointed in you!"

"What? How dare you insult the Hakurei Clan!" Reimu stood up, and with a flick of her wrist ofuda appeared in her hand. With a gesture, her _gohei _appeared in the other. "Maybe I should just exterminate you once and for all!"

"Excellent." Yukari applauded, smiling.

"What?"

"I looks like that shook you out of your depression." Yukari observed. "Now that that's done with, we can perhaps get back to deciding just how we're going to deal with this enemy."

Reimu stood in silence for a while, before for the first time in days, smiling, albeit weakly. "Thanks." She said softly, before sitting back down. The ofuda and her _gohei_ disappeared.

"Does it really matter if killing them here doesn't kill them off for real?" Patchouli asked.

"What are you suggesting?" Tenma asked.

"When youkai and fairies are exterminated, it doesn't always kill them off for good, but it's usually long enough that when they do return, we can prevent them from causing any trouble. What I'm saying is so what if killing them here doesn't kill them permanently. Am I right in guessing that it takes them a significant amount of time before they reform?"

"Yes, librarian, it takes months to years. The more powerful they are, the longer it takes. The strongest of their kind can take a century or even longer to return."

"Then it shouldn't matter. All we have to do is find a way to stop them from entering Gensokyo, and so once they reform in hell, they can't just walk right back in."

"But how do we stop them from getting in here in the first place?"

"The Well?" Ran asked. "It must act as some sort of a mass portal to the lower planes, allowing them to call up vast numbers of fiends and it is likely a way for them to draw power from the lower planes."

"So if we can destroy the Well, we can not only make it more difficult for them to enter Gensokyo, but severely weaken their magics as well!" Patchouli exclaimed, before descending into a fit of coughing.

"What if I were to place a seal on it?" Reimu suggested. "With their armies weakened, the main force could then take the tower. Once I'm done down there, I could find a way to banish the tower away from Gensokyo and back to wherever it came from."

"But the Well is likely to be very well defended. They know how important the site is." Vincent said.

Everyone at the council began to speak, and slowly a plan began to form. The tengu, kappa, celestials, humans, and various other youkai they could gather would form an army, and lay siege to the Tower. Meanwhile, another, smaller force would fight their way through the underground towards the Well.

"I'm going to the underground." Remilia volunteered. "If the demons are down there, then Flandre will be too."

Everyone shuddered when they considered this fact.

"I'm going with her," Patchouli said, "And I will assume that Sakuya will do the same."

"I'm going to be there, of course." Satori said. "It's my duty to watch over that area. Orin and Utsuho will come with us."

"My people live in the underground, I'm definitely going." Suika said.

"Shou and I will go with you as well. Ichirin, Unzan, Nazrin and Murasa will aid in the attack on the Tower."

"Yes milady."

"We'll be helping out there as well. Right Yuyuko-sama?" Youmu asked.

"Of course. My death powers may not work against the enemy, but I'm nowhere near helpless."

"Hell yes, I'm joining in on this! It's payback time!" Vincent said.

"If he's going, then I'm going!" Yuuka said, placing her arm around Vincent, who jumped out of his seat at the touch. She winked at Vincent, who shuddered.

"Hey! Don't count me out!" Yukari said.

"But mistress! You-"

"Don't worry Ran. I'm not going to participate in the battle, but I wouldn't want to miss this at all!" Yukari explained.

"Then it is settled." Tenma said. "Tenshi, Iku, Nitori, Hotaru and I shall ready our forces for the attack on the Tower. If everyone agrees, then we shall have the rest of today and tomorrow to get ready."

"Works for me" Hotaru answered.

"Good then." Lord Tenma stood up. "Meeting adjourned!"

* * *

><p><em>I like the concept of the River Styx. A vast river flowing through each of the lower planes that is dangerous to everyone. However, one thing that I don't like is the name.<em> _In the original mythology, it was the River _**Lethe** _which erased memories. In Virgil's Aeneid, souls who would be reincarnated would __drink from the river to erase the memories of their previous life._

_There wasn't really any action in this chapter, but it was still pretty fun for me to write. A meeting of the heroes and a meeting of the villains. I tried to show how the demons and devils would interact, maybe there should have been more violence at the meeting..._

_On another note, I just made up Shinki's servants off the top of my head. As for the armored woman, she'll appear again later in the story.  
><em>

_That's pretty much all i have to say right now. Thanks for reading so far, and thanks for all your feedback. Feel free to review more, I'm the kind of person who gets crazy excited every time I get a review._

_~Dragonexx  
><em>


	14. Great Battle

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 14

Great Battle

* * *

><p>"And that's the situation." Hotaru finished. "So to get to the point, will you lend your help in the coming battle?"<p>

The youkai, a tall man with a lizard like tail and claws bowed. "Your wish is our command, Lady Hotaru and Lord Vincent."

"That the Lord of-" Hotaru suddenly shot Vincent fierce glare. "…never mind that point."

"That's what I thought."

"When do we set out?" The youkai asked.

"Noon today. You will be ready, won't you?" Hotaru asked.

Hotaru left the main cave where the youkai resided, stepping into the sunlight. That was the last of the scattered tribes of youkai in the Ash Mountains. They were more than willing to help, and not for the first time, Hotaru found herself wondering whether it would be enough. Both she and her brother had fought

She had spent the rest of the day after the war council preparing her spell cards, as had Vincent. The day after that had been spent traveling among the Ash Mountains, conferring with all the various youkai tribe leaders, telling them the plan and asking for their help. All had agreed, which wasn't very surprising. Ever since they had first met, only six months ago, the youkai had been eager to help and serve. Which she supposed _was _itself surprising.

* * *

><p>Byakuren waited in the yard of the Myouren Temple. There really wasn't much to do at this point. She had spoken with the leader of the human village, and he had agreed to send his best youkai hunters and warriors to join the battle (the human leader himself was a famed and powerful youkai hunter… at least he had been fifty years ago.). Unfortunately, the were rather small in numbers.<p>

Hotaru's words had rung true. Gensokyo had no standing armies, which Byakuren had considered a good thing when she had first arrived here, but now the lack of military power was a problem staring her in the face. True, every human was trained in basic self-defense, a necessity in a world where many youkai preyed on humans they caught alone. However, there was a wide difference between defending against a wild creature that fought primarily on instinct, and against a fiend which most likely had trained in combat every day since it first came into existence.

Thus an idea had come over Byakuren, and she had sent Shou and Nazrin into the forest of magic, to gather up any magicians who could help. Still she didn't expect a big turnout. The main reason that so many magicians took up residence in the Forest of Magic was so they were able to research and develop their magics without being disturbed by the rest of Gensokyo. She honestly doubted many of them had even wondered what had caused the forest fire.

Byakuren heard footsteps, and turned to see Murasa walking out of the temple, a cup of tea in her hands.

"Captain Murasa." Byakuren said.

Murasa abruptly turned and saluted. "Yes milady?"

"I'm going to leave you in charge of the things up here while I'm underground."

"I won't disappoint you, milady." Murasa said.

"Tell Shou to head to the cavern entrance when she returns. I'm going to go on ahead."

"As you wish." Murasa bowed.

Byakuren took off, flying towards Youkai Mountain and the inevitable battle to come.

* * *

><p>Satori and her pets were the first to arrive at the cavern leading to the underground. She sat on the ground, leaning against a tree, while Orin remained in her cat form, curled up in Satori's lap.<p>

Utsuho paced around, pointing her arm cannon at various things and making explosion sounds. She performed flips and rolls, imagining herself in an epic gunfight. She ducked for cover behind trees, and kicked dirt in her imaginary enemies' eyes, before clobbering them with the barrel of the arm cannon.

Orin looked up at Satori, and gave a confused. "_Mrrow_?"

"No. Let her have her fun. She has near limitless energy anyways, so it's no big deal. Besides, it's kind of amusing and I…"

"_Meow!"_

"Thanks. You're right, I shouldn't worry about it too hard. We're going to win." She scratched Orin behind the ears, and the youkai cat purred.

Utsuho suddenly stopped her mock battle. Satori's third eye turned towards the hell raven. "What did you find?"

"Um… I don't know exactly… Utsuho was staring up into a tree.

Orin stepped off Satori's lap and took on her human form. The two of them walked over to where Utsuho was standing.

"It looks like a camera?" Orin said. Utsuho flew up into the tree and picked up the camera, nearly dropping it as she tried to hold onto it with her cannon arm.

"Dismiss the control rod. Please, before you break it." Satori sighed.

"Oh! Right!" The eye in the center of Utsuho's chest glowed, and there was the sound of gears whirling. The arm cannon disassembled itself, the component parts disappearing into Utsuho's arm. When the process was finished, Utsuho lowered herself to the ground.

"It belongs to the tengu, I think." Orin said. "What's on it?"

"Is this the play button?" Utsuho asked. She pressed the green triangle on the side and looked in the lens. "Um, I don't see anything…"

"That's because you're looking in the wrong side." Orin said.

"Oh!" Utsuho turned the camera around and peered into the scope.

"What do you see?" Orin asked.

"Heh heh, striped…"

Viewing the video through the medium of Utsuho's mind, Satori couldn't help but laugh, herself.

"Hey, there's that demon lady, and Flandre too!"

"What? What's going on?" Orin asked.

"Hmm… Waterfall."

"What waterfall?" Orin asked. "What's happening?"

"Now they're fighting and…" Utsuho suddenly stopped and nearly dropped the camera. "Oh god…"

"What? What's happening?" Orin asked.

"Well, at least now we know why we haven't seen Aya anywhere ." Satori said. She quickly related the story to the catgirl, who paled upon hearing it.

"Well that just means we have one more reason to get rid of these monsters." Orin said.

"Hey!" They heard a shout from the skies above.

Satori looked up to see Reimu, Suika and Byakuren arriving.

"What's wrong?" Byakuren asked as she landed.

"It's just… just watch this." Satori said, holding up the camera.

Byakuren watched the video, and frowned. She looked up into the sky to see Remilia and her companions following. "Remilia's not going to be happy when she sees this…"

* * *

><p>Tenma stood on the cliff at the edge of the tengu city, contemplating the battle that was to come. He looked down at the Tower in the distance. The enemy must have known they were planning to attack yet he saw not a single fiend anywhere on the mountain. Not for the first time, he wished that Kanako was here. Being a war goddess, an endeavor like this would be right in her area of expertise, but for some reason, all the gods in Gensokyo had disappeared, and now the Moriya Shrine was in ruins.<p>

At the base of the waterfall was where tengu, kappa, celestials, humans and various youkai waited, prepared to attack Khin-Oin at their leaders command.

He heard the sound of someone landing behind him. Tenma turned and saw that it was one of the dragon siblings, Hotaru. He looked down at the camp, where he saw the various youkai of the Ash Mountains joining the others.

"Don't count your blessings yet, tengu." Hotaru said. "Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they're not there. They'll most likely portal in once we get anywhere near the place.

"You have fought them before, right?" Tenma asked.

"Yes, but nowhere near on the scale of army to army combat. So to answer what you're probably asking, I don't know any of the tactics they will bring to the battlefield."

Tenma sighed. "Then I guess we're going to just have to deal with any problems as they come." He drew his sword, and held it forwards, letting the bright sunlight reflect off the blade. "It is nearly time. Are you ready?"

"A dragon is always ready for battle." Hotaru said.

* * *

><p>Nitori walked through the camp where everyone had gathered. Her pockets, usually filled with various tools and spare parts, were instead filled with firearms, spellcards, and even a few grenades. The missile launcher had been combined with her backpack. The other kappa were armed similarly and there was even a pair of kappa piloting a tank.<p>

The vast majority of the kappa looked upset, and Nitori guessed that many of them would rather be at home, invasion be damned. She opened her mouth, perhaps in order to make some sort of dramatic rousing speech, the like of which was usually only seen in the manga she sometimes read. Instead, however she lost her nerve, sat down and looked up at the sky.

The sky looked so peaceful, as if unaware of the great bloodshed to come. A few puffy clouds floated lazily in the air, not obscuring the sun at all. It wasn't too hot, nor to cold, and a gentle breeze blew through the valley. Ordinarily, on a day like this, Nitori would have taken her work outside, perhaps to her backyard, or even by the river. Though more often than not, she would end up simply end up spending the day swimming. Suddenly it hit her; she knew what she had to say.

Nitori climbed upon a boulder, and looked over the assembled kappa.

"Listen up!" She shouted.

None of the kappa payed her any attention. Nitori fired a brief burst of danmaku into the air.

"Hey! Listen to me! You elected me leader so listen to what I have to say! If you don't like it, and I certainly don't, then I suggest you think twice before making me leader next time we need one!"

That got everyone's attention. Nitori faltered for a second, not really expecting any response. However once she started speaking the nervousness faded away.

"Alright. I know some of you-" There were a few shouts. "-Most of you don't want to be here. You would all rather be home, building or researching or just swimming. I kind of feel much the same thing. Who cares that there's an invasion going on? Let the other races handle it! They've handled problems like this in the past, so why help out when we can just go back to our houses and continue to work on our projects? I know that I would rather finish building my motorcycle than be here. I mean look at this day, it's perfect for getting things done!"

There were sounds of agreement among the kappa.

"But think!" Nitori said. "Up until now we have been content to keep to ourselves. We haven't bothered anyone, and they haven't bothered us. That might have worked fine in the past, but everything's changed now. The enemy isn't some bored idiot with too much power, the enemy is literally evil incarnate! They want nothing less than to bring the entirety of Gensokyo under their control, and that includes us as well! The tengu realize this! The humans realize this! Even the celestials are doing their part! Thus we must do _our _part! We have to get this into our thick skulls that total conquest of Gensokyo means us as well! Sure we could all go home right now and pretend none of this is happening, go back to our workbenches, or eat cucumbers or lie beside our river, which is now twisted and corrupted by the way. By tomorrow we'll probably all be dead, slaves, or worse! And then what? We'll never get to enjoy a peaceful day by the river, or invent some new device ever again. Is that what you want?"

There was silence, the kappa were hanging on to Nitori's every word.

"So think! We can continue to do what we've been doing, or we can join the others in this battle and push the enemy out of Gensokyo for good! All I'm asking is that we take one day out of our lives to come to the aid of the other creatures in Gensokyo! Help them out so they'll shut up and we can get back to work! Who's with me?"

The resounding cheer was almost deafening. It was not only the kappa who were cheering, but the humans, the celestials, the tengu, and the youkai as well.

Nitori climbed down off of the boulder and leaned against its side. The speech had taken a lot more out of her than she thought. Yet even still, she couldn't shake the excitement that filled her entire body.

* * *

><p>The others arrived shortly after. Yukari stepped through a gap, supported by both Ran and Yuyuko, with Youmu and Chen following. Vincent was the last to arrive, and as he landed he looked around nervously.<p>

"Thank Bahumut she's not here." Vincent said.

"Yeah, I just noticed." Byakuren said. "Where is Yuuka?"

"Who cares? Let's just go on without the flower youkai. We can do this thing fine without her!"

"She said she would help, and we could use it." Youmu objected.

"Yeah, half-ghost, let's just bring the object of everyone's nightmares along with us to fight the demons. That's definitely a good idea."

"What are you so scared of anyways?" Reimu asked. "I mean, _everyone's_ scared of her but still, I didn't think you were one to particularly care. You seem so oblivious half the time."

Vincent sighed. "Want to hear a horror story, red-white? When my sister and I first arrived in Gensokyo, we landed in the Garden of the Sun. Despite the monster that owns the place, you have to admit it's pretty beautiful. So my sister…"

Vincent's voice suddenly changed, sounding just like his Hotaru's. "Oh look at all these flowers! They're so beautiful! Wouldn't they look just lovely when we find a home to put them in?"

Everyone shuddered.

Vincent's voice returned to normal. "So we picked the flowers, and you can pretty much guess what happened from there. Three… horrific… days…" Vincent shuddered.

"Ouch… That can't have been a good welcome into Gensokyo." Shou commented.

"So if everyone agrees with me, we'll just continue on without the flower youkai, anyways if she was going to help out she'd be here already." Vincent suggested.

There was a general consensus among the party.

"All right, if there are no further complaints, let's get this done."

* * *

><p>They encountered no resistance as they made their way down the tunnel. The place was completely empty. Not even fairies were around, which was most likely a bad sign.<p>

As they moved on, eventually they could hear the sound of sobbing.

"What's that?" Reimu asked.

"It's probably…" Satori stopped as they rounded a corner. There, Yamame sat, crying. She cradled someone in her hands, and everyone realized it was the body of Parsee Mizuhashi.

Yamame must have been spending all her time digging her out. The evidence was in her hands which were cut and bleeding. She was covered in dirt, and her clothes were shredded and bloodstained. She constantly talked to herself, in low and unintelligible tones.

She didn't appear to notice their approach, still talking gibberish to herself. Finally, Orin put a hand on her shoulder. Yamame didn't look up. "Thank the gods. Have you finally come to finish me off?"

"Yamame, it's us." Orin said.

Yamame looked up, though there was no recognition in her eyes. "Please end it." She said.

"What? What do you mean?"

"She's gone, and she won't be coming back. Please I want to join her! End it!"

"Yamame, I'm not going to kill you. You can relax, you're among friends! We're here to help you!" she said.

"The only way you can help me is to kill me!"

"No! Dying won't solve anything, Yamame!"

Yamame snarled and shoved Orin aside. She crawled over to Yuyuko.

"Please" She begged, her eyes now full of tears. "You know how, just end it! Please, I want to see her again!"

"No." Yuyuko said. "I won't kill needlessly. And there are some powers that must stay buried…"

Yamame cried out in rage. She stepped back. "Fine!"

She closed her eyes and spread out her arms. There was a great screeching sound, as gigantic spiders emerged from cracks in the walls.

"Then I'll just have to make you kill me!"

She pointed forwards, and the youkai spiders charged forwards.

Youmu drew her swords, and cut the legs off of the nearest spider before impaling it in the head. Reimu tossed several needles, which immediately upon piercing a spiders flesh began to glow. The spiders body faded away, leaving nothing behind.

All this merely served as a distraction, as Yamame drew a spell card. She held it up and shouted. "Disaster! _'Black Plague!'_"

However, before anything could happen, Vincent emerged from behind her, and struck a fierce blow to the back of the head. Yamame jerked. She remained standing for a moment longer, before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

Orin walked over to her. "Is she dead?"

"No, I just knocked the earth spider out."

"Well what do we do with her now?" Reimu asked.

Vincent turned to Yukari. "Gap youkai, do you think you could manage another portal?"

"I can try, but to where?"

"Take her and the bridge princess' body to my lair the Ash Mountains. There, Miharu and Mara can watch over her for the time being."

"Alright." Yukari held out her hand, and a gap opened beneath Yamame and Parsee. She slowly sank into it and the portal closed afterwards.

Yukari slumped back, and was caught by Ran. She was breathing heavily and sweating from the effort.

"I don't get it." Shou asked.

"Don't get what?"

"Parsee's a youkai, shouldn't she have come back after she was killed? Did they do something to her?"

"I don't know." Vincent answered. "My sister might know, but she's currently fighting at the Tower."

Remilia turned towards the pile of rubble. "Well how are we supposed to get past this?"

"I can-" Suika never got to finish her statement.

"Leave it to me!" Utsuho said. Her arm cannon reappeared, and she pointed it at the rocks.

"Utsuho! No!" Satori shouted, but it was too late.

"Get down!" Orin warned.

Sakuya immediately slowed down time and ran straight towards Remilia, tackling her to the ground, just in time to avoid the blast. There was a deafening explosion and rocks were sent flying in all directions. When the smoke cleared, there was a hole blasted straight through, reopening the tunnel.

"See? We're through!"

"Yeah! And now they definitely know were here!" Orin said. "What were you thinking?"

"Who cares if they know were here?" Reimu said. "We attack now!"

* * *

><p>Up above the battle was in full swing. Tengu and celestials flew through the air while the kappa and humans flew closer to the ground.<p>

From a vast amount of dark portals appeared the fearsome armies of Hell. Hideous wasp-like devils flew through the air with winged erinyes wielding flaming swords. On the ground, grinning devils charged forwards riding on blazing nightmare horses. Following behind were tall muscular tusked devils, from whose wounds maggots sprayed, biting all nearby. Groups of these fiends were lead by the insectoid ice devils guarded by hordes of bearded devils and red skinned legion devils. Accompanying the ground troops were vicious fire-breathing hell hounds.

Hotaru flew through the air in her human form, as being in her true form would just make her a bigger target, not to mention that the vast majority of devils were unaffected by fires. She smashed an erinyes with her staff before gesturing. It was sent flying back, crashing into several others of its kind and sending them all crashing to the ground.

Hotaru flew back from the violent melee, as tengu clashed with the wasp-devils. Hotaru flicked her wrist, and a spell card came out of her sleeve. She held it up and shouted. "Calling Sign! _'Hurricane Legion!'_"

The spell card glowed, and group cloudy air elementals appeared around her, before charging into the battle aiding the tengu.

With that taken care of, Hotaru flew down towards the ground battle, where the humans and kappa were battling with the armored legions.

* * *

><p>Nitori gestured with her hand, and bolts of compressed water shot out, blasting away more devils. One of the large tusked devils charged towards her, massive spear raised. Nitori rolled to the side, and fired her gun, catching the creature in the head. Maggots burst out of its wound, which Nitori fled from. More gunfire echoed as kappa fired into the devils, mowing them down left and right.<p>

Someone shouted "Duck!" but too late. A swarm of wasp-devils swooped down, picking up scores of humans and kappa, impaling them on their stingers and then letting them fall the vast distance to the ground.

On the ground other devils wielded crossbows. Unusually, they had no bolt or drawstring. When the trigger was pulled, a bolt of pure fire shot out.

Nitori, and several other kappa formed a wall out of water, intercepting the flames. The fire kept coming, forcing the kappa to abandon their attacks and focus on defense.

This left them vulnerable to attacks from above, which the wasp devils didn't fail to take advantage of, picking up and impaling victims, forming holes in the defense where the fire bolts fired through, shooting down more kappa.

Suddenly, a massive bolt of lightning struck the ground, killing the bowmen and scattering the others.

Nitori looked up to see Iku flying through the air, hurling lightning down into the devil ranks. Suddenly, wasp-devils swarmed around her, forcing her to abandon her artillery and defend herself.

Nitori focused on the ground, where several nightmare riders charged through. Nitori jumped aside, barely avoiding getting trampled. She aimed her gun, only for the rider to knock it out of her hand with a swing of its spear. Nitori dodged another attack, and then knocked the devil off its mount with a spray of water.

She advanced on the stunned devil, only for the nightmare to kick her in the head, knocking her to the ground. Her vision blurred as the devil picked up his weapon and advanced towards the dazed Nitori.

It and its horse were gunned down by another Kappa, who moved over to help Nitori up. Suddenly, the kappa screamed as she was engulfed in flames. Suddenly someone picked up Nitori by the collar. As her vision came back into focus, Nitori saw Mokou forming a fireball in her hand.

Nitori kicked at Mokou and managed to break free from her grip. She then hurled a blast of water at Mokou knocking her back. Mokou leaped away before Nitori could hit her again, and hurled several balls of flame at the kappa. Nitori formed a wall of water, and when they collided a cloud of steam rose up, obscuring all sight.

Nitori carefully made her way through the steam cloud. When she saw a hazy outline, she shot several bolts of compressed water at it, only to hit nothing. Suddenly she felt the heat rise behind her. Nitori only barely had time to block several fireballs. She flew out of the steam cloud, with Mokou following her.

She let lose a jet of flame, which Nitori flew around, though the edge of her skirt caught fire. She put it out with water. She then drew more water around her hand before thrusting it towards Mokou. A tentacle of water shot out, wrapping around Mokou's leg. Nitori lifted Mokou up and spun her around before slamming her to the ground. She then slammed Mokou against several rocks before dragging her along the ground.

Nitori then made a fist with her hand. The water engulfed Mokou entirely and she writhed on the ground, unable to breathe. The water suddenly began bubbling and steaming, as Mokou attempted to boil it away.

Nitori rushed towards Mokou and leaped upon her. As she did, she added more water to replace what Mokou had already drawn away. She placed her hands on Mokou's face, and forced water through her mouth and nose and into her lungs. Mokou struggled for a while before eventually laying still.

Nitori stood up, breathing heavily. She knelt down, catching her breath for a few minutes before walking away, prepared to go rejoin the rest of the battle when she heard something moving behind her.

Suddenly she felt Mokou's hand's wrap around her waist, and lift her up. "You seem to forget. _I can't die! _And by the way, drowning me? Bah, Kaguya stopped doing that _ages_ ago. It takes very little time to recover from! Here, let me show you one of my favorite kills!"

Mokou's entire body began to increase in heat, hotter and hotter until it became near unbearable. Nitori's clothes began to blacken and singe, as Mokou burnt straight through them.

Frantically, Nitori drew water, soaking her own clothes in an effort to stave off the heat. Mokou laughed. "That ain't gonna work." Almost instantly the clothes dried, steam flowing out of them. It began to feel like an oven, and Nitori grew more and more tired as the water, a kappa's lifeblood, was drained out of her body.

Suddenly, Mokou cried out in pain, and dropped Nitori. She fell to the ground, gasping for air. From behind her, Nitori saw Lord Tenma pulling his sword out of Mokou's back. She fell to the ground, but the wound was already beginning to close.

"Go!" Tenma said. "Head towards the Tower!"

Nitori nodded and rejoined the kappa and humans, fighting their way towards Khin-Oin.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Tenma gripped his sword, as Mokou rose from the ground. "So you're working for them? Why, when they are the ones who killed Miss Kamishirasawa?"<p>

"Nonsense, Kanna said you would try to make me believe that bullshit. That bitch Reimu is the one who killed Keine!"

"Is that what you think? How can you be sure _they're _not the one's lying to you?"

"They are… are they?" Suddenly Mokou winced and screamed in pain. Lines of script appeared all over her skin. But just as suddenly as it appeared in was gone.

Mokou snarled. "No! Reimu is the one who killed Keine! Bring her to me!"

"She isn't here."

"What? Where is that fucking coward?"

"A coward she is not. She has gone to the underground."

"Fine! Then I'll just-" Mokou screamed in pain again, as the lines of script appeared once more. She turned and howled in rage before flying straight towards Tenma, her body covered in flames.

Tenma leaped over the fiery charge, and unleashed a fierce downdraft, sending Mokou crashing into the ground.

Mokou leaped back up and hurled a volley of fireballs. Tenma gestured and the winds blew, redirecting the flames harmlessly into the ground. He then slashed with his sword, letting lose a rending blade of air. Mokou flipped aside and flew straight towards Tenma. She struck with a flaming uppercut, which Tenma stepped back from. However she then struck downwards with a fiery kick, striking Tenma in the shoulder. Undaunted, Tenma dodged a series of kicks and flew away, reaching incredible speeds. He turned around, and flew back, slashing Mokou across the arm. As he put some distance between him and his opponent, he saw the wound was already beginning to close.

He flew by twice more, striking once across the leg, and then across the stomach. Again the wounds were already healing.

Tenma had to give the devils credit. Recruiting a warrior who could not die and regenerated near instantly from minor wounds gave them a distinct advantage.

He thought quickly. Perhaps the best way to ensure that she wouldn't trouble them for the rest of the battle was to chop her into so many pieces that she would take a long time to regenerate.

Unfortunately, Mokou must have realized this as well. She spread out her arms, and an aura of white hot flames engulfed her. She smiled, and then shot another jet of flame at Tenma.

* * *

><p>In stark contrast to the organized armies of the baatezu above, the demon hordes fought wildly and randomly. When everyone first arrived, the demon hordes charged to meet them. Many shoved, tripped and clawed the others out of the way in eagerness to be the first to tear into their opponents.<p>

In the initial charge, everyone had gotten separated, and now fought in different streets, against the enormous hordes of demons.

Remilia, Sakuya and Patchouli were surrounded by demons as the leaped across the rooftops and came pouring out of buildings.

Remilia's aura flared around her as she swung her spear, tearing through another group of demons. She leaped into the air to avoid the charge of a group of armored centaur-like demons, and directed her aura downwards, sending the demons flying through walls, where they dispersed into darkness.

She landed where near where Sakuya and Patchy were fighting off a horde of rat-like demons. As Sakuya hurled several knives into the crowd, Patchouli let lose a fireball, incinerating the survivors.

"Have you seen Flandre anywhere?" Remilia asked.

"No sign of her." Patchy responded. She formed a barrier to block the swing of a goat-headed demon's spear and then sent it flying into another crowd of fiends with a blast of air.

"Look out!" Sakuya shouted.

Remilia barely managed to dodge the swing of a massive toad-like demon, and thrust upwards with her spear. The demon batted aside the spear with one hand, and grabbed Remi with the other.

It was then that Remilia got a whiff of the demon. She gagged. The creature _stank _like nothing Remilia had ever smelled before, so bad, that Remilia very nearly vomited.

Sakuya hurled several knives into the creatures flesh. The demon turned and hurled Remilia at her. The two of them went crashing to the ground.

Patchouli opened her spellbook and shouted. "Fire Sign! _'Agni Shine!'_"

A jet of flame shot from the palm of her hand, engulfing the demon. Unfortunately, it smelled even _worse _when burning, and the stench forced everyone to fly away.

They stopped suddenly, as a massive hooved foot came crashing down in front of them. They looked up to see Vincent in his true form battling with the gigantic minotaur-like goristro. He swiped with his claw, drawing blood and pushing the hulking demon back. He then inhaled, prepared to breathe fire. However, the goristro grabbed Vincent over his mouth and held it shut. With its other hand it pummeled Vincent into the ground, leveling several buildings in the process.

The demon was about to continue the attack, when someone tapped it on the shoulder. It turned to see a gigantic Suika. She slugged the demon square in the snout, and sent it stumbling back, crushing an entire row of buildings.

The demon roared, and got down on all fours. It charged forwards, intending to impale the oni on its massive horns.

Suika grabbed its horns and skidded back as the demon pushed forwards. Meanwhile, Vincent stood back up, and inhaled, letting lose a blast of flames over the duo. The fire didn't harm the oni, but the goristro's back was set ablaze. Suika smiled, and lifted the demon up by its horns, flipped it over her head, and slammed it into the ground, shaking the entire underground.

The demon righted itself, and struck Suika with a series of punches that would have shattered the bones of any lesser being. Suika managed to grab on to its arm. "Now, Vincent!" Suika shouted.

She transformed herself into a cloud of mist as Vincent roared and charged forwards, his claws glowing like hot metal. The both slashed and burned their way through the goristro's flesh. Vincent bit down on the creatures shoulder, his teeth glowing just as hot.

He tore away a huge chunk of the demons shoulder, and it roared it pain. The goristro's wound didn't bleed, the fire already cauterizing the wound. Vincent then charged forwards, tackling the beast to the ground. Before they touched the ground, Vincent transformed into his human form and leaped away.

At that same moment, Suika reformed out of mist and lifted up her hands. Rocks, rubble and chunks of buildings gathered in her hands which she then hurled down, trapping the goristro beneath.

Still in human form, Vincent drew a spell card. "Great Inferno! '_Fire 1666!_'"

An enormous blast of flame spread out in all directions, setting buildings, demons and the pile of rubble on fire. The pile of rubble suddenly shifted and collapsed, as the goristro beneath dispersed.

Suika shrank down to normal size, and high fived Vincent, (knocking him to the ground in the process).

The fires raged, and Satori was forced to fly to a different street to avoid their heat. She encountered a crowd of demons.

Satori's third eye focused on the demons, and she sent a blast of mental force straight into their minds. Some demons fell to the ground, clutching their heads and writhing while others turned on, and devoured each other. She gestured, and the survivors moved over to her. "I'm heading towards the palace, guard me." She ordered.

The demons saluted and took up positions around her. Satori leaped on the back of one of the centaur-demons and pointed forwards. The controlled demons advanced.

Their advance was cut short by the appearance of a hideous demon. It was tall, with an ape like body and a warthog like head. Its stomach was bloated and it had tiny black feathered wings on its back that looked far too small to allow flight. A long rat like tail snaked behind it.

Satori immediately reached into the nalfeshnee's mind, attempting to subjugate it. However the demon easily brushed aside the attempt, and laughed. "I am not like those lesser, weak-minded scum."

Satori pointed forwards, and the controlled demons charged towards the nalfeshnee only to be savagely torn apart. The nalfeshnee easily batted them aside, and then held out its hand. A blast of energy fired from its palm, striking Satori square in the chest and knocking her off her mount. Satori lay dazed, and her control over the lesser demons ended. The centaur demon turned towards Satori, its spear raised.

Satori cleared her mind just in time, and held up her hand. The demon stopped and turned back towards the nalfeshnee. She reinstated her control of the surviving lesser demons and ordered them to continue their attack on the nalfeshnee.

While they attacked, Satori fired a burst of danmaku at the demon, to no effect. Unfortunately, Satori wasn't a good spellcard duelist on her own, relying on mimicking danmaku patterns of others.

_Perhaps… _Satori thought. She drew one of her few original spell cards and shouted. "Recollection! '_Terrible Souvenir!_'"

Danmaku shots were fired and Satori managed to penetrated the barriers around the demons mind and began rooting through its memories, attempting to find something she could emulate.

While she did so, the nalfeshnee tore through the controlled demons, biting, stomping, clawing and smashing. Once it finished them off it moved towards Satori.

_No! I need more time! _Satori thought desperately. Suddenly, Orin leaped off of a rooftop and clawed the demon across the face. She landed, and then raked her claws across the demons belly. It attempted to smash Orin into the ground, but she was too fast. The demon missed as Orin leaped up into the air, kicking the beast in the head.

Suddenly, Satori's eyes widened. _Got it! _"Orin! Move!" Satori ordered.

Orin ran out of the way as Satori held out both her hands, and white light began to glow upon them. The nalfeshnee ignored Orin and resumed lumbering towards Satori. However, it was too late. Satori shouted. "Recollection! '_Holy Smite!'_"

A beam of white light shot out of her hands and smashed into the nalfeshnee, sending it flying. It smashed into the side of a house, and its body faded away into shadowy wisps.

Orin landed near Satori and helped her as she fell back. Satori looked at her hands to see that they were slightly burnt and still smoking. "Wow… That was amazing!" Orin said.

"Yes, but I don't think I want to try that again anytime soon. Such holy energies are not meant to be wielded by youkai."

"I-" Orin was cut off. Suddenly, puppets began to appear all around them. Stepping from the shadows was Alice, manipulating her dolls with strings. "I'm sorry about this!" She said and ordered her creations to attack.

* * *

><p>Within Khin-Oin, Alcain sat calmly at a table. He watched the battle from a window above, and sipped from a teacup. He turned to the pit fiend sitting across from him. "Can I offer you any refreshments, Lord Galthera?" He poured another cup of tea and set it down at the other side of the table.<p>

Galthera wasn't paying him any attention, and instead watched the battle intently.

There was a shout from the devils "Fall back! Fall back and regroup!"

"The enemy is fighting well, better than expected."

"I'll take that as a no." Alcain said. "Ah well, more for me." He poured himself another cup of tea.

There was a bright flash, as a barrage of danmaku fired towards the tower, shooting down several flying devils. The shots that made it through the crowd, bounced off the magical protections of the tower. The kappa tank fired a shell which exploded against the tower, doing an amazing job of also not penetrating the shields. Neither Galthera or Alcain flinched at these attacks.

"They will reach the gates of the tower soon."

"Well I think it's time we let out the rest of the forces, right?" Alcain asked.

"Agreed." Galthera said. He disappeared, heading towards the battle. After he left, Alcain took out his book and began writing in it. Once he finished, he closed the book replaced it, and then reached across the table. He took Galthera's teacup and began drinking from it, an amused smile upon his lips.

* * *

><p>The gates of the Tower opened, and new fiends took to the field. First came reinforcements of the baatezu. Following behind them were alien yugoloths, in varying forms. There were the insectoid mezzoloths and dergholoths, both led by the lobster like piscoloths.<p>

Following behind them were the mutant echinoloth's. These creatures looked much like a combination between a starfish and a gigantic squid. It had long spiked tentacles on which it impaled its victims and tossed them into its wide mouth.

However none of these creatures compared to the horror the defenders of Gensokyo felt when they saw who else was fighting alongside them. The rabbits of Eientei.

* * *

><p>Tenshi payed no specific attention to the rabbits. If they were on the fiends side then they were enemies all the same. While the others might hesitate to attack those who were once friends of theirs, Tenshi had no reservations and cut them down as she might any other foe.<p>

As she fought she noticed a tall red scaled fiend giving orders. What drew her attention was that he was wearing a necklace made of severed heads. She looked closer and saw her mother and fathers heads among those so displayed.

Rage overtook her and she held out her hand. The stones shook and lifted into the air, slamming into fiends and rabbits alike, clearing a path. Tenshi charged towards the Galthera, sword raised high.

Galthera laughed and struck Tenshi with a back hand blow, knocking her to the ground.

"Another celestial?"

"You killed my parents!" Tenshi shouted.

Galthera laughed again. "I've killed thousands of celestials over the course of my existence. What makes you thing that you'll be any different?"

Tenshi snarled and swung her sword again. Galthera caught her and slammed her into the ground. He stomped down on her but Tenshi rolled to the side and stood up.

She plunged her sword into the ground and shouted. "Earth Sign! '_Sword of Unletting Soil!_'"

Massive rocks burst through the surface, striking the pit fiend and sending him flying. He landed on his back and Tenshi leaped forwards, intending to plunge her sword into the devils heart. However the fiend was fast. He caught Tenshi mid-jump and slammed her against the ground. As he stood up he crushed Tenshi in his grip, causing her to scream in pain. He then slammed her face down into the dirt.

"You're parents died like insects, and you'll die all the same!" Galthera taunted.

Suddenly, a bolt of electricity struck the pit fiend. His body jerked and he let go of Tenshi.

"Eldest daughter!" Iku shouted. She flew over to Tenshi and attempted to help her up. Tenshi snarled and knocked aside her hand.

"Stay out of this Iku!"

"Why? We can take him out together!"

"No! He killed my parents! This is _my _fight!" She shoved Iku away and charged towards the pit fiend again. Galthera laughed, and spread out his arms. A black aura engulfed him and knocked Tenshi away.

"Vengefulness? Hardly a trait something as so-called pure as a celestial should have."

Tenshi didn't respond, and instead gripped her sword.

"Ah, but you're young, aren't you? Of course it's still fun to kill a child." Galthera held up his hand and suddenly he was holding a massive blazing sword. He rushed forwards and brought down the sword. Tenshi blocked the swing, and their swords clashed. She could feel the raging heat the sword was giving off. Tenshi struggled to remain standing as the weight of the sword, combined with the strength of the pit fiend, pushed down on her until she was forced to her knees.

Another bolt of lightning struck the pit fiend and it was forced to abandon its attacks and defend itself.

"Eldest daughter! Are you okay?"

Tenshi turned towards Iku. "I said don't interfere damnit!" She clenched her fist and struck Iku a blow to the side of the head. She went flying and struck a boulder. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

Galthera laughed. "So the stories were true! You are just a brat who only got into Heaven on the backs of her parents achievements."

"What does that have to with anything?" Tenshi demanded.

"Nothing. Just stating a fact is all." Galthera swung his sword and a wave of flame shot out. Tenshi held up her hands and a massive keystone appeared blocking the flames. She kicked it towards the devil, who smashed through it and swung his sword again.

Tenshi leaped above the attack and kicked the pit fiend in the head. The attack had little actual effect, and Tenshi barely avoided getting bitten by the devils razor sharp teeth.

She flew back, and held out her sword. Bolts of red energy fired from the tip. Again the pit fiend formed the black aura around itself, protecting it. It then held out its free hand. The darkness fired out in a blast of black energy striking Tenshi head on and engulfing her. As the darkness surrounded her, Tenshi began to feel sick and dizzy and struggled to stand.

The pit fiend walked over to Tenshi and plunged his sword into the ground. "I'll let you live. You interest me. Perhaps we'll meet again." He then brought his fist down on Tenshi, brutally pummeling her into the ground again and again until she lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Yet another demon was consumed by Ran's blue fires. She and Chen had taken up positions on either side of Yukari, keeping her safe. With little effort, all the fiends in the area had been eliminated. They were about to move on to the next area when something flew straight towards them.<p>

Swiftly, Ran caught an arrow out of the air. "I recognize this…" She said. "It's Eirin's!"

The three of them leaped onto the rooftops where they saw Vincent and Suika in battle with Eirin Yagakoro. Eirin dodged a swing of Vincent's claws, and reached into her pocked where she pulled out a vial containing some sort of black liquid. She removed the stopper and hurled it at Vincent. Mid-air the vial exploded transforming into some sort of black flame.

Immediately, Vincent drew a spell card and shouted. "Dragon Legend! '_Fafnir's Blood!'_"

A red aura surrounded him, and deflected the fire. He charged at Eirin, and struck with his claws. She dodged and fired an arrow, which bounced off the aura. She flew back, narrowly avoiding a body slam from Suika. She then drew another arrow, this one with a tip coated in some strange liquid. She fired it at Vincent, and it pierced through his protective aura, and impaled him in the arm. Immediately Eirin drew another vial.

"What?" Vincent said. "That shouldn't be possible!"

"It doesn't matter! Just blast her!" Suika flew out of the crater she was standing in and formed a fireball in her hand. At the same time Vincent inhaled, and let lose a blast of flame.

Eirin drank down the vial just as the flames struck her.

"Did we get her?" Suika asked.

Suddenly, Eirin flew out of the flames, unharmed. She carried in her hands two syringes. She dodged a punch from Suika, got behind her, and plunged one of the needles into her shoulder. She immediately turned towards Vincent as he let lose another blast of flames. She charged straight through the fire and leaped out right in front of Vincent. She plunged the syringe into Vincent's neck and flew away.

Both Vincent and Suika stood for a moment before dropping to the ground.

Eirin picked up her bow and then aimed it at Yukari.

"Why? Why are you fighting for them?" Yukari asked.

"I have my reasons," Eirin said, and then fired.

* * *

><p>Fiends fell left and right to Reimu. She flew rapidly, tossing ofuda and needles into the crowds of demons. She heard a high pitched buzzing sound from behind her, and barely managed to avoid getting slashed by the razor sharp legs of some sort of fly-demon.<p>

She quickly dispatched it with several needles, but the buzzing sound grew louder. Suddenly there were hundreds of the monsters rising up from the ground and pouring out of buildings. Reimu didn't panic, however. Fairies often attacked in such numbers, and Reimu was no stranger to dealing with fairies.

She fired out at the swarm, striking them with needles, ofuda and amulets, sending vast numbers of them crashing to the ground.

However, for each one she destroyed, it seemed two more took its place. Finally when Reimu was about to fall back to a more defensible position, there was a blinding light. She heard the words. "Love Sign! _'Master Spark!'_"

The multicolored beam blasted through the swarm of demons, and when it faded the few demons left fled. Reimu's heart soared. She flew down to where the beam had originated from and saw her.

"Marissa!" Reimu shouted, joyously. "You're alive!"

However, suddenly Reimu found herself lying on her back, the bridge of her nose hurting. Marissa had punched her!

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"For looking down on me, bitch!" Marissa shouted.

It was then that Reimu noticed the transformation Marissa had gone through.

"Marissa… What have they done to you?"

"They've helped me see the truth! They've given me power."

"What? What are you talking about?" Reimu asked. She slowly stood up and picked up her gohei.

"You, you arrogant bitch, you've looked down on me ever since we've first met! You've never really trusted me have you? Just because I learned my magic from Mima, you think the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Well excuse me for thinking that! It's just that Mima has been a constant enemy of my family for generations. I think I'm entitled to a little suspicion of her apprentice!" As soon as the words left her lips, Reimu knew it was the wrong thing to say. Marissa screamed in anger and gestured with her red hand. Six spheres of perfect blackness appeared around Reimu.

"That just proves it!" Marissa shouted.

"Wait! That's not what I meant!" Reimu protested, but it was too late. The spheres slammed into Reimu and she screamed, as her body was wracked with agonizing pain. A black aura engulfed her and she fell to her knees. When she tried to stand up again, the pain worsened, and she fell back down.

"Like it?" Marissa asked. "That's just the beginning of what Kanna will teach me!" Marissa strode over to Reimu and grabbed her by the collar with her clawed red hand. She then hurled Reimu against a wall.

"I won't live in your shadow any longer! I'll learn magic that nobody in Gensokyo has ever seen before!"

While Marissa was speaking, Reimu focused, and dispelled the dark aura surrounding her. With the pain eased she hurled an ofuda at Marissa. She easily sidestepped it, and the talisman stuck to a building and blasted a hole in the wall.

"You're actually going to fight me." Marissa laughed.

"I'm sorry, Marissa. You're the best friend I've ever hand. Sure, Remilia and Yuyuko and the others are nice, but none of them, not even Sanae, are completely human. You're the only person I can truly relate to!"

"Lies!" Marissa accused. The symbols drawn on her began to glow.

"However, perhaps I haven't been a very good friend." Reimu admitted. "But that's because I have a duty to protect Gensokyo, and I can't let anyone stand in the way of that! Not even you! So in the name of our friendship I offer you this warning. Stand aside or I'll consider you an enemy!"

"You…! I'll…!" Marissa's eyes glowed.

"Marissa, I'm warning you, you don't want to do this!"

Marissa looked down at the ground, her eyes now obscured by her wide-brimmed hat. Suddenly she began laughing again. "As a matter of fact I do! I'm stronger now! I'll prove it!"

Marissa rushed forwards, far faster than Reimu thought possible, and grabbed her by the throat. She forced Reimu to the ground and pinned her there. The runes on her arms began moving. They flowed across Marissa's hand and onto Reimu. Reimu struggled, and finally managed to get a needle in her hand. She jammed it into Marissa's side, and she screamed in pain. Marissa rolled off of Reimu and pulled the needle out of her." Reimu stood up, gasping for air, and focused again, closing her eyes and holding the gohei in both hands. The runes on her body disappeared, leaving no trace behind.

"How…?" Marissa asked.

"I'm a shrine maiden, that sort of thing won't work on me!" Reimu drew a spell card. "But I'm betting this will work on you! "Prayer! '_Exorcism'_"

A vast amount of amulets appeared and Reimu directed them at Marissa. Marissa leaped out of the way as the amulets exploded on impact_. _She took off her hat and reached into it, pulling out her broomstick. She mounted it and took to the air. Reimu followed her, still directing the amulets. Marissa lifted her hand and shouted. "Star Sign! _'Meteonic Shower!'_"

A series of stars launched from Marissa's hand and collided with the amulets, both exploding and throwing up a large cloud of smoke. Marissa burst through the cloud of smoke and struck at Reimu with her claw. Reimu ducked, and struck Marissa with the gohei. The gohei's impact also left a light burn on her skin where it hit.

"Look at that!" Reimu pointed. "They're corrupting your spirit!"

"I. Don't. Fucking. Care." Marissa said. She snapped her finger, and a black circle appeared on the ground. From it arose a massive, hulking, devil wielding a club. Reimu leaped back from the swing of the devil's club, as it smashed through the rooftop.

The fiend spread its massive wings and took off after Reimu. She threw several talismans, and a barrier formed between her and the fiend. It slammed into the barrier and roared in pain as its flesh was seared. From behind it Reimu lifted her hands into the air. "Holy Relic! _'Yin-Yang Sanctifier Orb!'_"

A gigantic yin-yang orb appeared in Reimu's hands. She hurled it down, breaking through the barrier and slamming into the fiend. The orb crashed to the ground where it exploded in a brilliant burst of white light, taking an entire block of buildings with it. Reimu sensed Marissa putting up a magical barrier just in time. Once the light faded, Reimu flew down to the crater, but she couldn't find Marissa, no matter where she looked.

At that moment, Marissa came crashing down upon her from above.

* * *

><p>Youmu and Yuyuko had ended up in the garden of some house, where they were both surrounded by demons. Youmu wielded both swords, each swing bringing down another foe. Yuyuko gestured, and bolts of pink and blue energy flew around her, blasting through demons and sending them flying. Yuyuko took off into the air and began raining down energy blasts, killing vast amounts of the fiends, while Youmu charged through their ranks, slicing through any that got near her.<p>

When the horde was reduced, the few survivors fled, leaving the garden empty.

Youmu leaned against a subterranean tree, catching her breath. But the break didn't last long. Reflexes honed from years of training allowed her to almost instantly block the swing that came towards her with Roukanken. With the shorter Hakurouken, Youmu struck at her assailant. The enemy was quick however, and fell back before getting struck. Now able to take a better look at her enemy, she identified her as Ayon, Kyreth's second in command. Ayon charged forwards, swinging both of her swords. Youmu blocked the swing, but the demons sheer strength sent her sliding back. She barely managed to keep her balance, as Ayon began attacking.

"Youmu!" In the air above Yuyuko was about to come to Youmu's aid. However, a black streak slammed into her and together they went crashing through the roof of a building.

"Yuyuko-sama!" Youmu turned towards her, when Ayon swung her sword. Youmu barely managed to dodge, though the sword cut through a few strands of hair.

"Hey hey, you have your own enemy to deal with!" Ayon taunted.

* * *

><p>Yuyuko crashed through the roof and the second floor of the building landing on the ground floor. The two combatants rolled on the ground before her attacker kicked her away, slamming her against a wall. Before Yuyuko could react, the attacker slashed her claws, cutting into Yuyuko's stomach.<p>

Being a ghost, Yuyuko didn't bleed. Instead, wisps of ectoplasm leaked out of her body and dissipated. Yuyuko ducked underneath another claw strike and put some distance between her sudden attacker. It was Zeri.

She charged towards her, claws outstretched. Yuyuko sidestepped, and grabbed Zeri's hand, concentrating. Nothing happened. "You're not a demon." Yuyuko said.

"No, but I'm undead, so your death thing won't work on me either!" She struck with her other claw, tearing into Yuyuko's shoulder and letting lose more ectoplasm.

She then grabbed Yuyuko and slammed her into the ground, forming a small crater in the floor. She straddled her, Yuyuko, pinning her arms to her side and raised her claw.

As Zeri struck, Yuyuko went intangible and sank through the floor, and Zeri's claws stuck into the wood. As she pulled them free, Yuyuko rose from the ground behind her and struck her with a burst of energy, sending her crashing into the wall. Zeri rose back up and held out her hand. A thick fog filled the room, blocking out all sight.

* * *

><p>Youmu and Ayon moved about the yard, their blades clashing. Ayon struck low, and Youmu leaped up, kicking her in the head. Youmu landed and came about for another strike, when Ayon caught her by the arm and struck her in the chest, sending her flying into the side of a tree. Youmu recovered, and barely managed to roll away from a swing that would have taken her head from her shoulders. Instead, it cut through the tree and sent it crashing down to the ground.<p>

Youmu stood up just in time to lock blades with Ayon. She held her swords in an X pattern against Ayon's two bladed strike. They pushed against each other, trying to knock the other off balance.

Ayon smiled, and her long tail lifted into the air, prepared to strike at the now defenseless Youmu. However Myon, Youmu's ghost half, charged forwards and wrapped around her tail. Youmu used the brief distraction to break free and strike Ayon in the side.

Ayon managed to break free of Myon and leaped away. She ignored her wound and pointed one of her swords at Youmu. A blast of black energy fired from the tip towards Youmu. She slashed at it with her swords, dispersing the darkness.

Ayon kept firing, and Youmu kept blocking, steadily advancing towards the demon. Ayon stepped back again and gestured. Suddenly Youmu's arms spread out involuntarily. She felt her wrists twist and she dropped both her swords. Another blast of dark energy struck her head on, sending her flying back, away from her swords. The demon gestured, and the swords went flying in opposite directions, imbedding themselves in walls. Ayon smiled and charged forwards. However, she had forgotten about Myon, who rammed Ayon square in the chest while glowing with energy. She went flying back and struck a tree, dropping her swords. Youmu rushed towards the demon and struck her in the stomach as she tried to rise. She was about to smash down on her head when the demon grabbed her by the waist and ran forwards, slamming her against the trunk of another tree. Youmu managed to break free and landed on her back. Ayon turned towards her and brought her fist down. Youmu rolled to the side as the demon's fist cracked the tiles of the path.

She kicked out Ayon's feet from beneath her, sending her crashing to the ground. However this didn't last long. As soon as Youmu stood, Ayon's tail wrapped around her leg and lifted her into the air before slamming her down on the ground and knocking the breath out of her. The tail then lifted her up again and slammed her against a tree. Youmu fell to the ground as Ayon let her go. Ayon rushed towards her and brought her foot down in a stomp. Youmu barely dodged, rolling away and managing to get on her feet. The two combatants charged towards each other once again.

* * *

><p>Yuyuko floated through the fog, searching for her foe. She heard footsteps to her left and turned towards it, firing bolts of spirit energy. The attack hit nothing, and instead she felt pain in her back as Zeri's claws struck her, causing more ectoplasm to leak out.<p>

Yuyuko fired again, and hit nothing again. Zeri laughed, and the voice seemed to come from all directions. "Is that the best the so-called great ghost princess can do?" She was slashed again.

Yuyuko didn't respond, and instead went intangible, just as Zeri came charging at her once again. She floated upwards, passing through the ceiling and into the second floor, away from the fog. Zeri followed her, bursting through the floor and creating another hole. She held out her hand and a blast of flame shot out towards Yuyuko. She dodged it and fired back, the blue and pink burst of energy being narrowly avoided.

Zeri fired again, this time, bolts of lightning arcing from her fingertips. Yuyuko sank through the floor and rose up behind Zeri. She grabbed on to her, holding her on tight.

Zeri flinched when Yuyuko licked her cheek. "Hmm! Vampires taste good!"

"What are you insane? You're going to eat me?"

"No… That wasn't it…" Yuyuko said.

Zeri struggled to break free from her, but the ghost's grip was surprisingly strong.

"Oh yeah! That was what I was going to do."

Yuyuko gripped tighter, and her body began to merge with Zeri's.

"What in The Abyss are you doing? No! Stop! Noooooo!"

* * *

><p>The hand-to-hand battle hadn't gone well. Ayon had her tail wrapped around Youmu's neck and lifted her into the air, choking her.<p>

"Hey! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a full ghost?" Ayon asked. She slammed Youmu into the ground again, still maintaining the hold on her neck. Youmu grabbed onto the tail attempting to break free, but she was having no success. Her vision began to go blurry as she was unable to breathe.

Suddenly there was an explosion, and Ayon was blasted back, crashing into a wall. Her tail unwrapped from Youmu's neck and the half-ghost gasped for air.

She saw Zeri standing next to her, hand outstretched, smoke curling from the palm.

"Zeristine! What the hell are you doing?"

"Oh… Is that her name?" Zeri asked, in a strange voice.

"Yuyuko-sama?" Youmu asked.

"Yes, yes it is! It's been a long while since I've actually possessed someone. And she tastes so good!" Yuyuko said, licking the possessed vampires hand. "I wonder if after all this is over, we can eat Remilia?"

"Somehow I doubt that…" Youmu sighed. "And is now really the time to be thinking about snacks?"

Ayon screamed in rage and charged forwards. "Her she comes, milady!" Youmu said.

"And this vampire has such amazing magic!" Yuyuko said, a wide smile on her face. She held out her hand, and Ayon was lifted into the air and then slammed into the ground repeatedly. She broke free from the spell and hurled a blast of energy which both Youmu and Yuyuko leaped away from. Yuyuko gestured, and Youmu's swords removed themselves from the walls and flew back into Youmu's hands.

"Thanks, milady."

"No problem."

The two of them charged forwards, attacking Ayon from either side. Unarmed, Ayon was defenseless, and the two of them tore through her. Wounded, Ayon leaped to a roof top and shouted. "This isn't over!"

A black circle appeared beneath her, and she sank into it and was gone.

* * *

><p>Utsuho was falling. Something had struck her, hard, and she was sent in a dazed spiral to the ground. She finally managed to recover, just before crashing and looked around to see what struck her. There it was! Flying above her was a woman with bat wings and a pointed tail. She had long silver hair, with streaks of purple.<p>

Utsuho aimed her arm cannon at Kanna and fired. A beam of energy flew towards Kanna who dodged it. She moved towards Utsuho, not so much flying as seemingly running on the air. Twin blades of energy appeared in her hands and struck at the hell raven. Utsuho blocked the swing with the barrel of the arm cannon and then struck Kanna with her free fist. As Kanna was knocked back, Utsuho fired another beam from the cannon, blasting her into a building. Kanna emerged from the wreckage with only minor injuries.

She gestured, and buildings began to tear themselves free from the ground. She pointed towards Utsuho and the buildings went flying towards her.

Utsuho either dodged or blasted the flying buildings out of the way, but they were merely a distraction. Kanna appeared near her and charged, running on the air horizontal to the ground. She struck Utsuho in the side. The blades didn't actually cause a wound, though Utsuho felt agonizing pain and she began to feel weakened. She managed to turn and kick Kanna with her concrete leg. She blasted her to the downwards with a shot from the arm cannon. She then spread out her arms and the eye in the center of her chest began to glow.

"Take this!"

A ball of glowing energy fired from the eye down towards Kanna, creating a bright flash of light and blasting Kanna to the ground.

She then aimed her arm cannon down and the cannon began to glow. "Explosion Sign! '_Mega Flare!'_"

A massive beam of energy fired downwards, creating a blinding light and blasting out a huge crater.

Utsuho stopped to catch her breath, when suddenly from the smoke, bolts of black lightning appeared. Utsuho screamed as the lightning coursed through her body. She sank to the ground, and Kanna burst from the crater. She held out her hand and glowing symbols began to circle around Utsuho. Her body was wracked with even more pain and she struggled to even move. Kanna walked over to her and kicked her in the face, sending her flying through the side of a building. She then gestured, and several meteorites appeared and came crashing down on the house.

That didn't last long though. The pile of rubble exploded and several large rocks were sent flying towards her. With a flick of the wrist, the boulders crumbled to dust before they hit. At another minor gesture, a wind blew the dust aside.

Utsuho fired again and again, forcing Kanna to take up defense, either blocking or dodging the attacks. She suddenly disappeared, and reappeared right in front of Utsuho. She grabbed on to the arm cannon and smiled.

"Let's see how you do without the use of your powers!"

A black aura engulfed the hell raven and she screamed in pain. The arm cannon began to disassemble, pieces falling to the ground. The electrons orbiting her left leg faded away, and the concrete encasing her right foot crumbled. Finally, the Yatagarasu's eye in the center of her chest dimmed and began to crack.

Kanna hurled the stunned Utsuho to the ground, and landed next to her. What was surprising was that Utsuho was laughing.

"What's so funny?" Kanna demanded.

"Jeez, and they say _I'm _the idiot!" She suddenly stood up and punched Kanna. When she struck a massive explosion went off, sending Kanna flying. She swiftly flew over to her and slammed her into the ground, creating another explosion.

She looked up to see Utsuho flying towards her. Despite being cracked. The Yatagarasu's eyes shone out of control.

"Those things act as power LIMITERS!" Utsuho shouted.

She raised both hands into the air and a massive sphere of energy appeared. She hurled it downwards at Kanna blasting out a massive crater. When the smoke cleared, she saw a black mist rising from the hole and she thought she had won.

However, instead of fading away, the black mist rapidly flowed towards the hell raven and surrounded her in a whirlwind of darkness.

The darkness became physical, and wisps of it began to cut like blades. Frantically Utsuho began to fire energy blasts into the whirlwind, but they were all absorbed. Kanna's face appeared in the whirlwind, laughing.

"Did you really think something like that would kill me?" A black beam shot from her mouth, blasting Utsuho into the side of the whirlwind where the darkness cut deeper into her.

Despite this, Utsuho managed to smile. "No, not really. But I'm betting this will. She spread out her arms and her entire body began to glow. She shouted. "_ABYSS NOVA!" _

A massive sphere of energy engulfed both Utsuho and Kanna, utterly vaporizing any nearby buildings. The sphere exploded, causing the entire underground to shake. Even the cities former residents who had taken refuge in the distant tunnels felt it.

When the light faded, Utsuho saw Kanna lying on the ground. Parts of her body were dispersing into darkness. Despite this, she managed to stand up.

"I may have lost for now," Kanna snarled. "But this isn't over. All you have attempted will be for naught."

She gestured with her one remaining hand and a black circle appeared beneath her.

Across the city, those who had come with Kanna were taken with her.

Alice looked at the black circle beneath her. "Thank the gods." She said as she sank into it.

Marissa looked at her circle. "What? NOOOO! DAMNIT! Reimu this is not over!"

Eirin looked at her own circle. She lowered her bow and closed her eyes. "So be it."

The hordes of the Tanar'ri were scattered and powerless. The battle for Former Hell was over.

* * *

><p>Reimu tossed a handful of ofuda into the air. They flew about and placed themselves at regular intervals around the Well. She then knelt down in prayer, her gohei held in both hands.<p>

The others gathered around the Well, watching.

Vincent smiled and walked up to Satori. "I almost forgot to do this! Hey! Mind-reader!"

"What-" Satori turned towards him. The moment her third eye focused on him she blushed a deep pink, almost the same color as her hair. Vincent burst out laughing.

Orin placed her hands on Satori's shoulder and turned her away. "Guys, will you stop doing that?"

Everyone else began to laugh, save for Reimu, who was intently focused on sealing the Well.

"Hey, we all need something lighthearted after what we've been through." Yukari commented.

"Speaking of lighthearted, where are Yuyuko and Youmu?" Ran asked.

"Right here!" Said a voice.

Everyone turned towards the tunnel to see Zeristine walking towards them in the company of Youmu."

The others drew spellcards and prepared for another fight.

"Relax" Youmu said. "It's just Yuyuko."

Zeristine suddenly collapsed to the ground while a white mist flowed out of her. The mist reformed into Yuyuko, still smiling.

Meanwhile on the ground, Zeristine moaned. "I feel violated…"

"That was kind of fun, wasn't it Youmu?" Yuyuko asked.

"I guess so…" Youmu responded.

Immediately, Remilia flew over to the dazed Zeri and lifted her up by her collar.

"Where is my sister?"

"Hmm…?" Zeri said in a daze. "No sugar for me, thanks."

Remilia shook her and then finally slapped her across the face twice. "Where is Flandre Scarlet?" she demanded.

"Oh… the little vampire." Zeri muttered still dazed. "She went back to the Abyss with Kyreth or something."

"What?"

"Didn't you hear me you irritating Xaositect?" Zeri said. "They went back to the abyss, now where's the chicken you promised me?"

Remilia screamed in rage and threw Zeri aside. She went flying and landed in a heap, still muttering to herself about food.

She turned back towards the well. "That thing leads to the Abyss, right? We have to go after her."

"Whoa there vampire, hold on." Vincent said. "Sure it leads to the Abyss and probably any of the other lower planes, but there's no telling where it will let out. You might land in Phlegethos' fires or get caught in the windstorms of Pandemonium."

"Pandemonium? Like Shinki's palace?" Byakuren asked.

"Who's Shinki?" Vincent asked.

"Well then, how do you suppose we rescue Flandre then?" Remilia asked.

Ran was about to say that it probably would be better for Gensokyo's safety if Flandre stayed in the Abyss, but stopped when she saw Remilia's worried expression.

"Well it's not going to be by going through this thing." Ran said "There are other ways to get to the Abyss or wherever they're from. I mean the enemy was already here before they created this Well, so all we have to do is take that other vampire prisoner. After were done here we can interro-"

Ran suddenly stopped. "Do you feel a breeze?"

"Yes why-"

Suddenly two rending blades of air came flying out of the tunnel. Before anyone could react, the blades struck Reimu and her back exploded in blood. She collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

Out from the tunnel flew Aya and Momoji, fan and sword drawn. Behind them, Yuugi charged straight towards Suika. She rolled to the side and then leaped away from another earth-shaking punch.

She landed and then concentrated, but nothing happened. "What the hell? I can't grow?"

"I can't transform either!" Vincent said. "Damn that doctor lady, whatever she injected us with is messing with my abilities. But let's try this!"

Vincent drew another spell card. "Dragon Legend! '_Sow the Teeth!_'"

From the ground in front of him, animated suits of armor appeared. At his command, the armors charged towards Momoji.

However, before they could reach her, roots burst from the ground and wrapped around each of the warriors, crushing them into scrap metal.

"Summoning up more help when you already outnumber us is hardly fair."

Everyone immediately recognized the voice.

"Yuuka! What do you think you're doing?" Yukari demanded.

"Fulfilling a promise." Yuuka Kazami walked out of the tunnel, smiling like she was doing nothing more than taking a walk through her garden. She carried her parasol in one hand, and in the other held a single flower.

"What? You traitor!" Byakuren accused.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I am no traitor, I was never on your side to begin with." Yuuka laughed. "Kyreth came to me first, offering me these wonderful toys."

It was noticed that Aya, Momoji and Yuugi weren't wearing their normal clothes but were instead wearing garments made of leaves, vines and wood. Yuuka walked over to Aya and pet her head before planting a kiss on her cheek. "And imagine all the ways in which I can play with them. Don't you want to play, Aya-dear?"

"Of course, Mistress Yuuka." Aya said with a smile, although her eyes remained expressionless.

Everyone could no doubt imagine what Yuuka meant by "playing".

Remilia and Shou immediately leaped towards Yuuka. However with a simple gesture, the roots wrapped around them. Before anyone else could attack they were all bound as well. The roots dangled everyone over the well.

"It is a pity though." Yuuka said. "I'd love to toy with you guys, but I'm due to destroy the resistance above. Ta ta now!"

She gestured and the roots hurled everyone in to the darkness below…

**End Part One**

* * *

><p><em>Wow... Fourteen chapters. I really didn't think this I was going to keep interest in this story for this long. There's so much to say right now.<em>

_First of all Tenshi. It might seem like she's acting ooc but remember that the Galthera killed her parents (or had them killed, or something)_.

_And I'm finally done with the big battle scene. Let me tell you, this chapter was not easy to write_. _Thanks for being patient with me._ _I'm just glad that there won't be such large scale conflict happening in the next part anytime soon. (Or maybe, depends on whether it comes into my head or not.)_

_Another note is Vincent and Hotaru's spell cards. Hotaru's are mostly based around the things she summons while Vincents are mostly based around myths about dragons. Fafnir's Blood is a reference to Norse mythology when the hero Siegfried (at least I think it was Siegfried) __killed the dragon Fafnir and bathed in his blood to become invincible. Sow the Teeth is a reference to Greek mythology where __Cadmus kills a dragon and plants his teeth in the ground at Athena's direction. Warriors sprang up which he used to found the city of Thebes. (I think some one else in Greek mythology did that as well? Does anyone know?)  
><em>

_Also I gave Satori the power of mind-control as well in addition to just mind-reading._

_One final note on spell cards and danmaku. I'm considering danmaku and spell cards to be as lethal as any other form of attack. It's only within the bounds of a spell card duel that they become nonlethal.  
><em>

_And I'm working right on part two as you read this. Don't go looking for it in another story, it will still be here in the same place, starting with Chapter 15!_

_Also, expect more of the story to start taking place in the Great Wheel and dealing with the belief and perception aspects of those worlds. There wasn't much happening in the Great Wheel as of now because I wanted the first part of the story to focus on the events in Gensokyo.  
><em>

_I sincerely thank you for reading this far. Please leave a review. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like and what might need to be changed and if you have any suggestions for events that might happen in part 2! Also I don't really like the title of this chapter, any suggestions for a new title? Thanks for all your support and interest! See you soon!  
><em>

_~Dragonexx_

_P.S.: Can someone please help me with chapter 9?  
><em>


	15. The Darkest Evil

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 15

The Darkest Evil

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><p>Nothing. As far as the eye could see there was nothing. The land was nothing. The sky was nothing. The air itself was nothing.<p>

The land was a dark gray in color, utterly featureless save for a few rocks or the occasional dead tree or abandoned building or large boulder. Though once passing it, were a traveler to turn around to view it again, it would have crumbled to dust.

The sky was always completely obscured by thick clouds. It looked like it might rain, but it never did. There was no weather in this world. There were no seasons, the temperature remained a constant, unnoticeable. It was neither hot nor cold nor even warm.

The air was constantly obscured by a gray fog that blocked sight in long distance. Not that it mattered as there was little to see anyways. However, every so often, a fait outline of someone would appear in the fog. However ,were the figure to be approached, it would disappear.

Reimu walked, as she had for an eternity. She heard no sounds, not even her own footsteps. After yet another eternity, she stopped to wonder where she was going. She came to the conclusion that she had no actual destination and continued walking.

She carried nothing with her, not even her gohei. After an eternity of walking, the gohei had gotten heavier and heavier. Finally, the world bid that she leave it behind.

She must have eaten at regular intervals yet she had no recollection of doing so. However she felt no hunger so eating and drinking must have happened. She must have slept, for she remembered incredibly vivid dreams. However she had no recollection of actually laying down to sleep.

The world gave her dreams that were pleasant at first, remembering the days she had spent with Marissa. They all started the same, with Marissa flying over to visit Reimu at her shrine. They sat on the steps leading up to the shrines gate, and calmly drank tea. They spoke little, calmly appreciating both the view of Gensokyo and the peacefulness of the day. She recalled the brief moments of conversation, and laughter. In her waking moments, the world would let Reimu recall these dreams, and she smiled.

However, these pleasant dreams soon began to die out and slowly deteriorated. The world showed her the slaughter at the human village, the meeting with the gray man. Finally it showed her the battle in Former Hell and her encounter with Marissa.

"_They've helped me see the truth! They've given me power!"_

"_You, you arrogant bitch! You've looked down on me ever since we've first met! You've never really trusted me have you? Just because I learned my magic from Mima, you think the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!"_

Reimu feelings of joy left her, swallowed up by the hungry world. Her emotions turned towards grief and loss at the betrayal of her closest friend.

Finally, however, there came a time when even these dreams faded away. The grief left her, the misery left her and she had nothing. As she walked, even the few features vanished. No longer did she pass the dead trees, and no longer did she pass the boulders, or the buildings. The land was utterly blank and empty. Reimu stopped walking and sank to her knees. It had all become clear to her.

Then the world silently spoke to her. _At last you see the truth. Family, friends, they all mean nothing and amount to nothing. In the end they will be lost. Here you may witness the eventual fate of all things…_

* * *

><p>Reimu awoke to find herself laying on something soft. At first she felt confusion, then she felt warmth. She opened her eyes and looked around to see that she was laying on a blanket. Like everything else she had seen, the blanket was in some shade of gray.<p>

However, what drew her attention the most was where the warmth was coming from. There was an actual fire! However, even this seemed weak and sickly in the omnipresent gray.

She stared at the flames in amazement. The fire was almost alien to her as it's orange light was the only color she had seen in what felt like ages.

However her amazement soon turned to confusion. What was fire doing here? What was color doing here? It seemed… wrong somehow. She looked in the distance where everything faded to a monotone gray. There even the boundary between land and sky ceased to exist, becoming nothing but gray.

Yes. Surely the fire was an anomaly, a mistake on the world. Reimu's confusion turned to hatred. How dare this fire exist! How dare it bring color to the glorious gray! It was a mistake, an offence against the world!

She stood up, and stepped towards the fire, prepared to scatter it when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"That will be enough…" Said a voice.

At the sound of the words, actual spoken words, Reimu suddenly stopped. Her mind began to clear, as if waking from a dream.

"What happened?" Reimu asked. "Where am I?"

She turned around to see the person who had addressed her. The person wore gray-black robe with long sleeves that came down past his hands. The hood was pulled up and his face was completely obscured in shadow.

"You were almost gone, the Gray Waste was swallowing you, before your time. I ended the process..." The voice was unmistakably male.

"Um… thanks." Reimu then asked. "What is this place?"

"You speak as if you are not from here."

"Well I don't think I am. I'm from…" Reimu stopped. "That's strange, I can't remember."

The cloaked figure didn't appear to express any concern, but he asked. "Can you remember your name?"

"It's Reimu… Reimu…" She stopped again. "I know I had a last name. Why can't I remember?"

The cloaked man remained silent for a while. With his face covered in shadow, even in the light of the fire, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Finally he spoke.

"You have not lost your memories, they have been taken from you."

"Someone stole my memories?" Reimu asked.

"I am sorry, let me reword that." The cloaked man said. "To steal implies malicious intent. Perhaps a better word for it is _cleansed_."

"What do you mean cleansed?"

"The Gray Waste has selected you as its next disciple. You're old memories have been cleansed, removed, so that you may better understand the true nature of the multiverse. That is why I rescued you, so that you may better understand and spread the Gray Waste's teachings."

"The true nature? What are you talking about?" Reimu asked.

"Let me pose it as a question. What is the one universal truth that exists in the Gray Waste and within each of the lesser realms?"

"I don't know." Reimu answered.

"Understandable, most go their whole lives without realizing the Great Truth."

"So what is this so-called Great Truth?" Reimu asked skeptically.

"Best demonstrated instead of told." From the sleeves of his cloak, the man produced a ceramic bowl. He held it up and then dropped it to the ground, where it shattered.

"Drop a ceramic bowl and it shatters." He picked up the shards and dropped them again. "Drop it again, and it does not repair its self, it merely breaks apart smaller and smaller."

"And what exactly does this prove?" Reimu asked.

"Entropy, that is the one universal constant. From the moment of creation all things had one inevitable fate, to eventually collapse back into the void where upon the multiverse will cease to exist."

The pieces of the bowl began to sink into the earth. The man paid no attention to this and kept speaking.

"There are fools who go about, seeking to find the meaning to life, to think there is some ultimate goal that living beings have to aspire to. The celestials preach that the ultimate goal is to live in harmony with other beings, to become perfect through unity and goodness, which shall lead to life everlasting. They are meaningless, in the end all it amounts to nothing. There is no ultimate goal and those who believe in it are all fools. Life is meaningless." Through all this, the cloaked man spoke in a monotone, not showing any emotion whatsoever.

"Life is… meaningless?" Reimu's mind began to go foggy again and she found herself agreeing to what he was saying.

"Yes. In the beginning, all was chaos, void. Chaos, through its utter randomness spawned order, which is what made the multiverse. Our existence is nothing but an accident. And in the end, the void will correct its mistake, and all things shall cease to exist.

"Thus, what meaning is there in life? People go about their lives, thinking that it has some intrinsic value towards it. They forge vast empires, build cities, and form relationships. Why? Empires will someday fall. Cities will crumble and people will inevitably die, if not by a natural death, then when the universe ceases to exist."

Reimu gripped her head, there was something about his words that made her want to oppose him. She had the feeling there was something important she had to do, yet each time she thought she had it, it slipped away like smoke through the hand.

"Thus any foolish notions of duty are as nothing. You have forgotten about your past because it meant nothing. In the end, you shall become the next disciple of the gray waste, and speak it's perfection."

The cloaked figure raised its arm and sleeves fell away. Revealed was something that only resembled a hand. It appeared to be made of twisting shadow, appearing much like smoke.

The fire extinguished itself leaving the entire area dark once more. The hand extended towards Reimu. She stood up to run, but it was too late, it wrapped around her leg and pulled her back to the ground.

"Why do you deny perfection?" Asked the cloaked man.

Reimu's mind began to cloud again, and the shadows began to wrap around her. She struggled, but it had no effect.

"Do not fight it." The cloaked man said, his voice still a monotone. "You shall join me in perfection, Reimu. You shall finally understand the great truth."

Suddenly a bright light shone, piercing the darkness. The cloaked figure screamed, a terrifying, inhuman sound.

Reimu looked up to see another person had appeared. The white robed woman glowed brightly and had a large pair of white and gold wings that extended behind her. Her hair seemed more gold than blonde.

"No!" The cloaked man hissed. "You shall not interfere!"

He held out his hand, and several shadowy spears appeared. They fired at the winged woman, however she gestured, and another burst of white light shot out. The shadow spears faded away. The woman then charged towards the cloaked man, striking with her bare fists. The cloaked man leaped above her and his shadowy arms formed into claws.

However, the winged woman was fast, she caught him by the arm and smashed him into the ground. She was about to bring her fist down on him when the cloaked man's entire body became smoke. He drifted away from her and reformed. The woman's fist struck the ground, creating deep cracks.

The winged woman charged towards him again, but her dodged the swings and then dispersed again. He reformed behind her, but the winged woman was quick. She turned, and held out her hand. A wave of bright light shot from her hand, straight into the cloaked man's face.

He screeched and fell back, firing bolts of shadow all the while. The winged woman clasped her hands together, and a glowing white aura surrounded her. The bolts of shadow were absorbed by the energy aura.

The winged woman then spread out her arms and shouted. The entire area was engulfed in a bright shining light. The cloaked figure screamed as the light pierced through his body.

The light was blindingly bright, and when Reimu could see again the cloaked man was gone. All that remained was the winged figure. She dusted herself of and headed towards Reimu.

At that moment, Reimu noticed a wicked looking mace hanging from the angels belt. Reimu didn't flee but instead nervously approached the figure.

"Um… thanks…" Reimu said.

"Not a problem." Said the winged woman.

"What, was it." Reimu asked.

"Most likely a soul that was once consumed by the Waste. By now it's completely become a part of this realms will. Anyways, let's get going, Reimu."

"W-wait! How do you know my name? Who and what are you?" Reimu asked.

"I am Andromeda, astral deva angel. Though I don't know how you could have forgotten me. Anyways, I was sent to find you by my mistress, the solar Sariel.

* * *

><p><em>Okay i'll admit it, the reason this chapter is so short and took so long for me to get finished with is because I got lazy. Anyways, I tried my best to get the whole tone of the Gray Waste down. Also, this astral deva appears to recognize Reimu from somewhere and...<em>

_Wait..._

_What was that?_

_OH NOOOOOOO 36se4rtcrfgh b,nm_

* * *

><p><em>Greetings, my dears. This is Yuuka Kazami here. Due to my lack of screen time in this story, I consulted with Dragonexx, a dear friend of mine. We finally came to an agreement, and I got to do the end of chapter comments! Oh don't worry too much about Dragonexx, he's currently taking a rest from all his busy writings in my basement. <em>

_Well it looks like that's all the time I have for today. I'll get Dragonexx working on the next chapter right away! In the meantime, you will leave a review won't you? I would be ever so disappointed if you didn't. Thanks, my dears. And remember, Yuuka always loves you!_

_~Yuuka Kazami  
><em>


	16. The Two Angels

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 16

The Two Angels

* * *

><p>Sariel. That name sounded familiar to Reimu, though she wasn't sure exactly how. She considered ignoring the angel and returning to her wandering, but now that her head was clear, she saw that she would most likely keep wandering forever.<p>

"Where is this Sariel?" Reimu asked. So far she hadn't seen anywhere that someone might live.

"She resides in Death-of-Innocence for the time being."

"Death-of-Innocence?"

"Oh don't be too worried about that. A lot of the places end up having names like that. Bloodstain, Plague-Mort, Hopeless, Blood Carnival, Tower of Incarnate Pain, the Wasting Tower, and so on. Really it gets kind of stupid after a while."

"Okay then, lead on, angel." Reimu said, skeptically.

"That's Andromeda to you." The angel said.

"Whatever." Reimu said.

"Heh, it appears once you were freed from that waste spirit that amnesia hasn't affected your personality in the slightest." Andromeda said with a slight smile. "Anyways, I believe that Death-of-Innocence is this way."

"You believe? You're not sure?"

"Does it matter?" The deva asked. "Belief powers everything in the outer planes, it's literally what the Great Wheel is made of. You'll find that out soon enough."

"Sure. And just what is this Great Wheel anyways?" Reimu asked.

"So full of questions, aren't you?" Andromeda said. " It's to be expected of anyone with amnesia. Rest assured, once we return to Lady Sariel, she will be more than willing to answer any of your questions. I could answer several of them now, but it wouldn't do to tarry here, out in the middle of the Waste. Despite the fact that you usually don't see anything, there are all sorts of monsters that reside out here. So this way."

Andromeda pointed in a direction and began walking. Reimu followed close behind.

* * *

><p>Their journey was in slience, as still they couldn't hear their own footfalls. The fogs had grown thicker and now began to obscure everything. However, Reimu could notice something changing in the environment. Instead of a blank nothing surrounding them, gradually gray pine trees began to appear. Soon the pine trees became more and more frequent until the two of them were standing in the middle of a thick foggy forest.<p>

However, the forest was just as unnerving as the rest of the Gray Waste. Reimu could hear no sound. There weren't any crickets chirping or owls hooting, not even their footsteps made a sound as they walked over fallen pine needles.

The angel suddenly stopped. "What's going on?" Reimu asked.

Andromeda lifted her hand and pointed forwards. In the darkness a pair of glowing red eyes could be seen. She gripped her mace in one hand, and a white light glowed in the other.

"What is that?" Reimu asked.

"A yeth hound." Andromeda said. "And where there's one…"

More red eyes appeared in the darkness, surrounding them on all sides.

One of the creatures moved forwards. It appeared like a black furred wolf, with razor sharp teeth.

"It's just a wolf." Reimu said. "Not a difficult challenge for someone like you."

"Yeth hounds are more intelligent than simple wolves. Not to mention that they can…"

The lead hound barked, and the entire pack began to move forwards. They leaped off the ground, and began flying through the air.

The lead yeth hound charged towards Andromeda who quickly stepped aside and brought her mace down. The heavy weapon missed the creature and smashed against the ground, creating large cracks.

The wolf turned about and leaped towards the angel again. However a quick backhanded blow sent the hound flying into the trunk of a tree. She then swung upwards catching another yeth hound under the chin with a sickening crunch.

Meanwhile, two more yeth hounds flew through the air towards Reimu. She quickly dove to the side and rolled away. As she stood up, a brief thought came to her mind.

_She flicked her wrist, and paper talismans appeared in her hand. She threw them at the enemy and the creature stopped in its tracks._

Reimu repeated the gesture, and found that paper talismans, which she somehow know to be called ofuda, appeared in her hands.

She threw the talismans (which flew surprisingly good for paper) at the fiend wolves. The ofuda stuck to their forehead. Energy crackled across the wolves body and they fell to the ground unmoving.

Combat reflexes began to come back to Reimu as she flipped out of the way of another group of yeth hounds and struck at them again with more ofuda. These one's stuck to the side of the beasts, and then exploded.

Suddenly, Reimu felt pain in her leg. She was quickly pulled to the ground and looked over to see that one of the yeth hounds had snuck up behind her. She attempted to kick the creature's snout with her free foot, but the creature shook it's head, tearing into the leg even more.

The angel turned towards her and fired a bolt of white light. It pieced through the yeth hound and sent it flying where it crumpled to the ground.

However, sensing weakness, more of the pack closed in on Reimu. Andromeda rushed to Reimu's side and fired more bolts of light. The pack fell back for a second and that was time enough. Andromeda placed her hand over Reimu's wounds and there was a brief flash of light. The wound closed and Reimu was able to stand again.

Reimu smiled for the first time in a while. She flicked her wrist and more ofuda appeared. She hurled them into the approaching pack of hounds again and again, and more explosions went off. When the smoke cleared the remaining yeth hounds stared at Reimu for a second before retreating.

Reimu leaned against a tree to catch her breath. "Well… that was interesting."

"You're far stronger than I remember." Andromeda said. "When we fought-"

" Wait, we fought each other?" Reimu asked.

"Well, it was actually the result of a misunderstanding." The deva said, as she resumed walking through the forest. Reimu followed her.

"What sort of misunderstanding?" Reimu asked.

"Well, you were attempting to foil the plot of an evil magician named Mima. Lady Sariel had become concerned about her actions as well and sent me to investigate. We met in Mima's lair in the dream world. You thought I was a youkai and attempted to exterminate me."

"Oh… sorry." Reimu said.

"It is in the past, and of no matter anymore."

There was silence for a few minutes, until Reimu asked. "So, did I win?"

"You exorcised me, which despite what most people belive, works on a celestial just the same as a youkai or fiend. It wasn't a pleasant experience."

"Er… sorry."

"Don't bother, as I said, it's in the past, and of no matter."

They continued in silence until they came to a solid wall made of the same wood as the gray trees around them. The angel led her around the side of the wall to where there was a gate.

Andromeda knocked, and then waited. After a while, Reimu asked. "Maybe they didn't hear us?"

"They did, it's just a matter of them getting the motivation up to actually come and open the gate."

Finally, after about ten minutes, someone appeared at the top of the wall. "Who goes there?" The voice was a dull monotone, and spoke so softly that Reimu wasn't sure if she had even heard it.

"It is I Andromeda, the Astral Deva. I've completed my search and wish to make a report to my mistress."

The man sighed, disappeared. After a few more minutes, the gate moved open.

"Well that took far longer than it should have. Why didn't you just fly over the gate?" Reimu asked.

"Why didn't you?" Andromeda shot back.

"Wait… I can fly?"

Andromeda slapped her hand to her face. "Let's just get to Sariel already." The angel strode into town, with Reimu following close behind.

* * *

><p>There wasn't much to Death-of-Innocence. Each building was made of the same wood as the forest. Fog filled the streets. There weren't many people about. The few that were outside wandered around aimlessly.<p>

Curious, Reimu walked up to one of them. " Hello?"

The man looked up at her blankly, before turning away and staring at the ground. He slowly shuffled away.

"Well that was rude."

"That was what you might have ended up as had I not rescued you. Come on, were close."

They reached what appeared to be a wealthier district of the town. The buildings were now had two stories to them, and the fog lifted more, allowing for longer vision.

Andromeda led Reimu to a house that looked no different from any of the others. She pushed open the door, and gestured for Reimu to enter.

"Lady Sariel?" Andromeda called out. "I have returned, and brought that which you sought."

"Ah! Welcome back!" The voice was melodious, and Reimu felt her heart soar at its sound.

Andromeda led Reimu down a brief hallway and into a kitchen. Sitting at the table was a tall woman with waist length light blue hair. A pair of wings with metallic looking feathers sprouted from her back. She wore a simple blue dress with white sleeves, and Reimu noticed that she was barefoot. Leaning against the table next to the woman was a silver staff topped with a gem that seemed to change colors.

The woman's irises were golden in color, and she had a gentle and welcoming smile on her face. She didn't look all that fantastic for what reimu was expecting, though somehow, Reimu felt calmer and less troubled in her presence. Additionally, something seemed very familiar about this woman.

Cautiously, Reimu approached her. "Have we met?" She asked.

"Yes, I believe we have, though it has been many years since. You've grown quite a bit since then, both in power and age. Anyways, I am Sariel, Angel of Death."

Reimu paused as a brief flashback ran through her head.

_Reimu stood on the vast, rocky, plain. Floating next to her was a black and white orb, and in her hand she held she held a stick with paper streamers attached to it. She looked up to see a radiant being descending from above, six metallic wings spread wide. The angel gave off such light that it was difficult to look at her. When she managed to see through the light she saw the angel land. The few plants growing nearby withered and died. The being was _tall, _Reimu guessed her height to be somewhere around 12 feet and her wingspan to be at least twice that. The angel's face was expressionless, even as she lifted her staff into the air…_

"I remember, sort of. I think we fought and I won."

"Ah yes, I wanted to accurately gauge your strength so I held back."

"Held back... Of course you did."

Sariel laughed, a strange musical sound, and Reimu too felt the urge to laugh, the first feeling of happiness in a long while.

Reimu grew serious again, however. "So where exactly am I anyways?"

"Have a seat," Sariel gestured, and one of the chairs slid out. "And I've always found it best for conversation to be done over a good meal."

She clapped her hands twice and a cloud of white fog appeared over the table. Something began to smell delicious, and when the fog dissipated it left behind a meal. There was rice, fish and tea. It was then that Reimu first noticed that she was hungry.

Both Reimu and Andromeda sat down at the table and picked up chopsticks, which had appeared along with the rest of the food. As they ate, Sariel spoke.

"We are currently in the Gray Waste, one of the outer planes. More specifically, we are on the second layer, Niflheim."

"What is an 'outer plane'" Reimu asked.

"The outer planes are the final resting place of souls. From their beginning on the Positive Energy Plane, to the Prime Material, and finally the Outer Planes. It is the afterlife, of sorts."

"Wait, does that mean that I'm dead?" Reimu asked.

"No, nothing of the sort!" Sariel said. "Anyways, I can tell that if you actually died, you wouldn't end up here. Each soul heads to an outer plane that either matches how they lived their life, or is where the deity they worshiped resides. You most definitely would be the person who ends up in one of the upper planes."

"Um… the upper planes?"

"You know what some people in a city called Sigil would call you? A clueless, that's what." Sariel said with a smile. "The upper planes are the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, the Twin Paradices of Bytopia, the Blessed Fields of Elysium, the Wilderness of the Beastlands, the Olympian Glades of Arborea, and the Heroic Domains of Ysgard."

"Then there are the middle planes, which are the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, and the Concordant Domain of the Outlands." Andromeda added.

"Finally, the lower planes are the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, the Nine Hells of Baator, the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, the Tarterian Depths of Carceri, the Infinate Layers of the Abyss, the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium, and where we are, the Gray Waste." Sariel finished.

"Wow that's a lot…" Reimu said.

"Of course there are others. There's an entirely different group of inner planes Fire, Water, Earth Air, Positive Energy, and Negative Energy, which mix to create an entire slew of para and quasi elemental planes." Andromeda said. "Then there's the transitive planes, which link all the other planes together. A massive amount of demiplanes and pocket dimensions and finally the Prime Material."

"Seriously, how does anyone keep track of these things."

"Well you-"

"You know what? Don't tell me." Reimu said. "What I want to know is how I came to be here in the first place."

Sariel sighed, and took a drink from her teacup. After she set it down she spoke. "You and your friends were betrayed, by one who had promised to help you in your battle against the fiends. She cast the lot of you down into the Well of Darkness and you were scattered across the lower planes."

"My friends?" Reimu struggled to remember, but nothing came forward. "Are they still out there, in the Waste?

"No, I can tell you with certainty that none of them are in the Waste. They have been sent to other lower planes. Yukari has been sent to Baator, while Byakuren and Shou have been sent to Acheron. Chen, I believe, is in Gehenna, while her master Ran has landed somewhere in the Abyss. The others are in the Abyss, though for many, I do not know the specific layer. Satori, and her pets Utsuho and Rin, are together. Vincent has landed in the Abyss as well, specifically in the Iron Wastes. Patchouli and Suika are together in Shedaklah. Cirno, and her friends Wriggle, Daiyousei, Rumia and Mystia have been surviving in the jungles of the Gaping Maw. Last of all I haven't a single clue where in the Abyss Remilia and Sakuya are."

All of those names sounded familiar to her, yet none of them brought a single image to her mind. Trying again only brought her a headache. Changing the subject slightly she asked Sariel. "If you're so powerful, why haven't you done anything to help the others?"

"Unfortunately, I wish I could. However, I have other duties that I must attend to in the Gray Waste. I must admit, I only became aware of your plight while in the middle of my work."

"Oh…" Reimu yawned, and she realized that she was feeling tiredness, instead of the vague sense that she had slept.

"You should rest." Andromeda said. "We have some spare rooms upstairs."

"Thanks, and thank you for the meal." Reimu stood up and bowed. She headed up the stairs and found an open door. She stepped inside to find the room simple. Merely a bed in one corner, and a mirror on the other wall. She stepped over to the mirror and looked at herself. She had long black hair, and on taking a closer look, found that her eyes were gray in color. Her clothes were various shades of gray, which felt strange, because Reimu could have sworn they were supposed to be red and white.

She walked over to the bed and lay down in it, thinking for a bit. Her memories were gone, almost completely. However she had a vague image of a person. She wore a black dress with a white apron, and a wide brimmed witches hat on her head. Her eyes were brown and her hair was blonde. Somehow, this memory filled Reimu with worry. However, try as she might she couldn't remember why. She sighed and decided it was an issue to deal with after she had gotten some rest.

The bed was soft and comfortable, and Reimu was soon asleep. She did not dream.

* * *

><p><em>Oh my, perhaps throwing everyone into that well wasn't the best idea... It got my pour Reimu-dear amnesia. One can only shudder to think of what's happened to the others...<em>

_Oh well, at least most of them are with friends. After all, problems always seem smaller when you have friends with you. I have absolutely no idea where I'd be if I didn't have my dear friend Elly with my.  
><em>

_One one last note, I was sorely disapointed by the lack of reviews for the previous chapter, and I am sure that Dragonexx feels the same way (I should ask him the next time I visit my basement). You don't want to disappoint me, do you?  
><em>

_~Yuuka Kazami  
><em>


	17. The Abyss as Seen Through a Childs Mind

Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 17

The Abyss as Seen Through a Child's Mind

* * *

><p>In the Abyss, strength ruled above all else. This one rule manifested in different ways. In some layers, war raged endlessly and ultimately pointlessly. In other places, strength manifested as magical force, and even a demon with less physical might could find its self in a position of power. Here, in the Screaming Jungle, it manifested as the law of the wild. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed.<p>

The Beast brought its axe down on the last remaining member of the small village. The blade cut cleanly through the victims flesh, cutting him in half. As the victim died, the Beast took a look around the village. All about the village lay corpses, in varying states of intactness. There were no survivors in sight. The massacre, while gruesome, wasn't even a minor event in the Abyss, where violence far greater than this happened on a regular occurrence.

The Beast moved over to a corpse that was mostly still in one piece. It sat down and picked up the body in its massive clawed hands, tore off a limb and began to eat.

"It's not enough, is it?" Said a voice.

Swiftly the Beast turned and swung its axe. A figure leaped out of the way, flipped over the monster and landed on the other side.

Immediately the Beast swung its axe again, only for the stranger to dodge out of the way. She laughed, and leaped onto the roof of a building.

Now that there was some distance between the two of them, the Beast could focus on her. She looked like an attractive teenage girl. She had long black hair which was done in two pigtails, and had deep violet eyes. She wore a black corset and too-short skirt, along with thigh high boots. Around her neck was a spiked collar. Trailing out from beneath the skirt was a long black tail ending in a pointed tip, and on the top of her head were two horns (although one of them had been broken). The Beast noted with interest that the being's left hand was missing.

The Beast finally reached out with its senses, attempting to gauge its opponent's relative strength. When it did so, it fell back, recognizing this being as a demon lord. For the first time in ages, the Beast felt fear. Had the residents of this village been the property of that demon lord?

As if reading its mind, the demon lord smiled. "Don't worry; I don't give a damn for the lives of the mortals in this village. What interests me is you."

"Me?" "_Ussss?" _The Beast asked.

"Of course. You've been wandering around this jungle, hunting prey and massacring the occasional village, but what fun is it? None of these present challenge."

"True." "_Sssshe doessss have a point._"

"Excellent. So you agree with me, stop wasting your time with these small fry!"

"What is it you would ask of me?" "_We are eager to sssserve._" The Beast knelt.

"There is a group traveling through this jungle. Though they appear as children, they are stronger than these simple humans you've slaughtered."

"Well then, you wish for me to kill them?" "_Heh heh, sssslaughter, more for the sssslaughter!"_

"No, I want you to bring them to me. I'd do it myself, but I have a little vampire to deal with at the moment. However, feel free to inflict as much pain on them as you like. And rest assured, they will definitely put up a fight."

"As you wish." "_Let'ssss get this sssshow on the road, baby!"_

* * *

><p>Wriggle's feet ached. In addition, she was tired, and hungry. Oh, and thirsty. However, she didn't voice any of these problems, as most likely, everyone was feeling the same way. She simply held her tongue and kept walking.<p>

All around them, there was the howling of monkey's and the cries of birds. Every so often there would be the sound of something roaring, like a lion. The air was hot and humid, and the sun shone down brightly on the jungle. The trees were tall and the leaves offered shade, though it did little to lower the temperature. Fortunately, they did have Cirno in the group, and she was able to keep the temperature around them cool for the most part, although she did have to rest periodically.

Wriggle suddenly tripped, falling face first into the dirt. Of course, the vines. She had forgotten about the vines.

"Are you okay?"

Wriggle looked up to see a worried Mystia.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Wriggle answered.

Mystia held out her hand and helped Wriggle up. The firefly youkai dusted herself off and kept walking.

As they walked, Wriggle took a look around at the rest of the group. The five of them where nowhere near in peak condition. Their clothes were caked in mud and had numerous tears.

In the lead was Cirno, the ice fairy. She had a determined expression on her face, and appeared to be focused on the destination. She had claimed that they shouldn't worry; she would lead them back to Gensokyo.

_As if. _Wriggle thought bitterly. _She obviously hasn't a single clue where were going._

Wriggle next looked at Daiyousei. She nervously clung to Cirno, eyes wide with fear. At every sound she jumped and trembled. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked more tired than the rest of them.

_And for good reason. _Wriggle thought. _She's barely slept a wink._

Daiyousei had barely been able to fall asleep due to fear, and when she did, she had been tormented by nightmares that denied her any sleep.

Mystia on the other hand, had mostly kept to herself. She spoke very little, and usually flew off to scout ahead. Wriggle was slightly envious. For some reason, neither she nor Rumia could fly. Cirno, Daiyousei, and Mystia, having wings, were still able to, though they usually didn't, electing to walk with Wriggle and Rumia.

Ah, that brought Wriggle to the most worrying thing of all, Rumia. To start things off, she had been acting very weird since they had arrived. She had insisted on keeping that golden skull that the gray man had given to her. She had seemingly become obsessed with the thing. Even now, as Wriggle turned around, she saw Rumia holding the skull in her hands. Her lips were moving as if she was speaking to the skull, although Wriggle couldn't make out what was being said.

Wriggle didn't like the skull, and considered tearing it from Rumia's hands and throwing it as far as she could into the jungle. However she had already tried that two days ago, throwing it off a cliff. Rumia had positively freaked out when she was separated from the skull. The strange thing was that the freakout only lasted for a few seconds before she became calm and emotionless.

They had found the skull in a clearing thirty minutes later.

However, Wriggle had to admit, whatever effect it was having on Rumia had worked in their benefit. Rumia had quickly identified where they were, calling it the Infinite Layers of the Abyss or something. She said that they were in the layer called the Gaping Maw. This specific area was called the Screaming Jungle, and judging from how loud the cries of the animals (or whatever was making those sounds) were, Wriggle had to agree.

_Of course, it figures that she still has no idea how to get us out of here. _Wriggle thought.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over the group. Wriggle looked up to see two creatures flying past them.

"The enemy!" Cirno shouted. She raised her hand, and several sharp shards of ice fired out towards the creatures.

Both of the demons swerved to avoid the ice and then flew downwards towards the group.

Now that Wriggle could take a closer look at them she could see that they were bird like in appearance. They were bipedal, and had razor sharp claws. Their bodies were covered in purple feathers, and they had a pair of wings on their backs. Their heads were vulture shaped.

"Vrocks!" Rumia said.

"What?" Cirno responded.

The creatures gave a fierce cry and attacked.

Wriggle ducked, and barely managed to avoid a swipe of the creature's talons. Cirno dodged to the side and responded by firing more ice shards. The vrock dodged it and leaped towards Cirno, claws outstretched. At the last second, Cirno ducked, and the monster got its claws stuck in the trunk of the tree.

"Ha!" Cirno shouted. She formed several shards of ice in her hands and was about to fire them, when the vrock let lose a piercing screech.

Cirno and her friends gripped their heads in agony as the demonic sound assaulted their ears.

The vrock pulled its claw free and then picked up the fairy. It opened its beak, prepared to take a bite out of her. The other vrock picked up wriggle, about to do the same.

"No!" Wriggle managed to overcome the stunning and held out her hand. Swarms of insects rose up, and gathered around both of the demons' faces, stinging and biting. The vrocks dropped their victims, and began swatting at the swarms.

Taking the opportunity, Cirno drew a spellcard and declared. "Freeze Sign! '_Perfect Freeze!_'" The card disappeared, and Cirno exhaled a cloud of freezing cold. When the cloud engulfed the vrock, it became completely encased in ice.

The second vrock pushed through the swarms and lifted up its hands. Several stones levitated into the air and flew at Cirno knocking her into a tree.

Mystia leaped at the remaining vrock, and slashed it with her sharp talons. The wound was minor, however, and the vrock knocked her to the ground. It raised its own claws, prepared to tear into the sparrow youkai.

At that moment, Rumia leaped onto the demon's back and created an area of complete darkness that engulfed the fiend and herself. The fiend cried out, suddenly blinded.

"Shoot it now!"

Cirno drew another spell card and declared. "Ice Sign! '_Icicle Machine Gun!_'"

Rumia leaped away just in time. A rapid volley of ice shards shot out, impaling the demon's chest. Black blood flowed out and the demon fell to the ground unmoving.

"Woohoo! Enemies defeated! Dun dun dun DUN! Cirno gained a level!" Cirno pumped her fist into the air.

"Hmmph." Wriggle snorted.

"What the hell is your problem?" The ice fairy asked.

"I don't know, perhaps that this entire thing is your fault?"

"What? The hell are you talking about?"

"This fight could have been completely avoided!"

"Are you crazy, they were charging right towards us!"

"Charging towards us?! They hadn't even noticed us until you shouted and started shooting!"

"Well excuse me for being premtig… prelimtiv… uh…"

"Preemptive?" Mystia offered.

"Yeah, that's the word."

"Preemptive doesn't mean anything if we could have avoided the fight entirely." Wriggle explained.

"We won, didn't we?" Cirno argued.

"Yeah, barely! They almost had us there with that screech thing!"

"We won!" Cirno insisted.

"Look Cirno. You've lived your entire life around the Misty Lake. There's not much out there but fairies and weak youkai. But I used to live out in the Ash Mountains, a much more dangerous place full of wilder youkai. The first thing you learn out there is to avoid fights whenever possible."

"Why would I want to avoid fights? I'm the strongest!"

Wriggle slapped her hand to her face. "Not this again…"

"What? If you have a problem with me, then speak it!" Cirno demanded.

"Guys… please stop fighting…" Daiyousei pleaded.

"Sorry, Dai, but this has been a long time coming!" Wriggle exclaimed. "The ice fairy I call my 'friend' somehow got it into her head that she's the strongest being ever. In order to prove this, she goes about picking fights with and pulling pranks on people many times her own strength, and who against she has no hope of winning. All this inevitably brings down their wrath on not just her, but those who associate with her as well."

"What's that about my ass?" Cirno asked. "And I'm the strongest! The title doesn't matter if people don't know it."

"You know what? Let me tell you the truth. You. Are. A. _Fairy! _The lowest class of being in Gensokyo! Hell, their fairly easy for mages to control and swarms of them are often used as cannon fodder in their little power struggles with each other. You're weak, pointless, insignificant!"

The air around them rapidly and drastically dropped in temperature.

"Well at least I'm stronger than you!" Cirno said.

"As our friend Rumia is so fond of putting it… _Is that so_?" Wriggle asked. A dark smile appeared on the firefly's face. She spread out her arms, and a buzzing sound began, growing louder and louder. A huge swarm of insects began to gather, swirling about Wriggle. The swarm grew larger and larger as more and more insects answered Wriggle's call. Even the normally oblivious to fear Cirno took a few steps back.

"You all think that insects are meaningless creatures. That they are at the bottom of the food chain and only serve to be squashed underfoot. None of you realize the power that insects have. Do you know of all the deadly poisons and diseases that insects can carry? Have you ever heard of famines starting when swarms of locusts devour all the crops? Have you ever seen someone stung to death by killer bees, or devoured alive by scarabs?" The swarm grew larger and the buzzing grew louder and began forming a voice of its own. "If you thing you the so-called strongest, then come and prove it!"

Sharp icicles began to form in Cirno's hands and she prepared to throw them. Wriggle pointed her hand forward, and her insect army began to advance.

"NO!"

Both Wriggle and Cirno stopped in shock. Daiyousei had jumped in between them.

"Get out of the way Daiyousei!" Cirno said. "I'm about to teach this bug brain a lesson. Maybe a hit from 'Minus K' will show her!"

"There's no such thing as minus K you idiot!" Wriggle said.

"Please! Stop fighting!" Daiyousei pleaded, her eyes were in tears.

Cirno's icicles crumbled and the insects around Wriggle grew silent.

"Dai…"

"You don't have to fight! Please, were all friends!"

"A-alright." Cirno said. "You know what? Let's just get moving."

"No way! I'm not following you! It's your fault were in this mess in the first place!"

"Then don't. Nobody's keeping you here!"

"You know, that is probably the smartest thing I've heard you say in a long time!" Wriggle said.

Without another word, Wriggle turned away. All her insects gathered in a thick cloud around her, with Wriggle's head sticking out the top. The mass of insects then took off into the air, carrying Wriggle with them.

"Wow…" Mystia said. "I didn't know she could do that."

"Do you think she'll be okay on her own?" Daiyousei asked.

"Pfft, what do I care? We're better off without her!"

"Then we should keep moving." Rumia said emotionlessly. "It will not do to stay in one place for too long, lest the chasme find us."

Cirno gave Rumia a strange look before nodding and continuing through the jungle.

* * *

><p>They continued to travel for the rest of the day, and fortunately, they didn't fight against any more demons. There was one close call, when the group saw a demon with a coal black body wreathed in flames. It hadn't noticed them but Cirno was about to fire several shards of ice at the creature. Fortunately, Rumia tackled the ice fairy to the ground and dragged her away with the help of the remaining members of the group.<p>

"I could have taken it!" Cirno had exclaimed, once they were away from the demon.

"It was one of the elite of demonkind, far beyond our ability to face."

"Fine…" Cirno had relented.

* * *

><p>Rumia liked night. She always felt more comfortable once the sun had set. Of course, most youkai thrived in the night. It was then that the humans were hiding in their homes, terrified of the unknowns that might be out there beyond their range of sight. Most youkai thrived off that fear, for it was humankind's fears of the unknown that formed them in the first place.<p>

However, night in the abyss was neither welcoming nor comforting. The cries of the creatures in the forest grew louder, and every so often they would completely stop. Then a scream could be heard. A very human sounding scream. All around them, they could hear creatures passing through the brush.

Then they heard a loud roar that sounded very close. Daiyousei whimpered and clung even harder to Cirno. Mystia looked about desperately, trying to find the source of the noise.

Rumia was about to do the same when the skull spoke. Instantly all her focus was on the golden skulls words. Once it finished speaking, Rumia relayed its message to her friends. "There's a cave not too far from here. We can take shelter in there during the night."

"Um… if you say so…" Cirno said.

They found the cave with little trouble. It continued straight for a while before abruptly turning a corner, making its back room easily concealed from plain sight. The entire cave was, after a quick inspection, revealed to not be

As an extra precaution, Cirno sealed up the path with a wall of ice. Afterwards, the four of them sat in the cave, praying to whatever gods might be listening that something didn't break down the ice wall. Despite how impossible it sounded, soon each of them was asleep.

* * *

><p><em>OH Wriggle! My darling Wriggle! What's happened to you?! Have those awful demons done unspeakable things to you? Please know that I worry about you. Are you getting enough to eat? Are you dressing warmly? Oh! I can't take it any more! I must do something!<em>

_~Yuuka Kazami  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>...<em>

* * *

><p><em>Is she gone? Whew finally! I've been held in her basement for so long that I thought I'd never get back to this. The only thing that happened was the... stuff... Yuukas been doing with me.<br>_

_Er...  
><em>

_Anyways, now I can finally say what I've wanted to about this chapter and chapter 16  
><em>

_Chapter 16  
><em>

_This chapter is mostly to set up things in future chapters. It tells you where in the outer planes our cast is. I fully intend to cover each characters journey through the lower planes, and each characters adventures should be assumed to roughly the same time as the others.  
><em>

_Chapter 17  
><em>

_It's about time we got back to Team ⑨ and found out what they've been up to. As it turns out, not much, just surviving. I've set up an opponent for them to face, and that confrontation will probably happen in the next chapter. Also, as to Wriggle's speech... Insects are freaking scary! Also, we'll be seeing more about Rumia in the next chapter.__  
><em>

_Thanks for reading and please leave a review!  
><em>

_~Dragonexx  
><em>


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